Jackson and Del Toro set to Write 'The Hobbit'

Venkman here - this may not seem like news at first glance but the thing about this is Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro have actually been looking for other people to write the next 2 Middle Earth Films. In the end they decided that the best people suited for the job were themselves! Thank goodness they realized that! Here is what the trades are reporting:

Del Toro, who is directing the movies, will team with the "Lord of the Rings" filmmaker and "Hobbit" executive producer Jackson to adapt the J.R.R. Tolkien book and write its follow-up. Also joining them in the writers room are Frank Walsh and Philippa Boyens, both of whom collaborated with Jackson on the "Rings" trilogy.

I have to see it is nice to see the fellowship back together again to bring us 2 more amazing movies.

The news caps off an eight-month search for a scribe to tackle the coveted task of bringing the literary classic to the big screen. When Jackson and New Line resolved their differences over profit participation in the "Rings" films, Jackson said he would not be writing the "Hobbit" movies because of other commitments, though he does have approval over creative elements in his role as exec producer.

8 months of searching! I wonder who they talked to before they took on the roles themselves? I looks like they just couldn't trust anyone else with the project.

Later, when del Toro came aboard, the deal was that the two would oversee the search for scribes and the writing. In the interim, three factors came into play: 1) The filmmakers saw their schedules open up, 2) During the general discussions about the films, they realized how much affection they had for the material, and 3) They also realized that in order to make the release dates, the process required people intimate with Tolkien's world of Middle Earth. All led to the decision that they would do the honors themselves along with Walsh and Boyens.

Well thats just awesome! I guess it was meant to be. The production value of the films just shot up. For me this is a guarantee these movies are going to be everything we have hoped for.

"Hobbit," written by Tolkien for his children years before the "Rings" trilogy, follows a young Bilbo Baggins, who finds his comfortable life turned upside down when the wizard Gandalf takes him on a journey for a hoard of treasure that involves trolls, humans, Gollum and his ring of invisibility and a dragon named Smaug.

I am excited for them. They all seem very pumped up about the project. They have started the writing process now it is only a matter of time before we start hearing about the casting.