Guillermo del Toro Addresses THE HOBBIT Delay and 3D

The news for Guillermo del Toro and Peter Jackson's The Hobbit has been all over the place. The last thing we heard was that it had been given a release date of December 2012, and that production on the film would start shooting this November. That doesn't look like it's gonna happen.

At a recent press conference for Splice, Del Toro said that the film does still not have an official green light.

It's not greenlit. That's categorical... We've been caught in a very tangled negotiation... There cannot be any start dates until the MGM situation gets resolved. They do hold a considerable portion of the rights.

I wonder if he Del Toro gets tired answering the same questions over and over again only to give the same answer. As of right now they have no idea when the film will get a stat date. He speculated that one possible outcome would involve MGM sharing or selling off the rights. But he is confident that the film will move forward as soon as a decision is made.

We have designed all the creatures. We've designed the sets and the wardrobe. We have done animatics and planned battles sequences.... We are very, very prepared for when it is finally triggered.

He also addressed the 3D aspect of the film, explaining that...

3-D has been discussed literally once in the room. The budget and the schedule, the cost of the film, the number of days it would take to shoot, we are handling all of that right now without looking towards 3-D. So is there a chance it will become 3-D in the future? Maybe. Right now, it's not being planned as such.

I really don't want to see The Hobbit go 3D anyway. I'm done with 3D. So there is your most recent update for The Hobbit! Who knows what the hell is going to happen, and when it's going to shoot. If they wait too long the production will fall apart. At least at the moment they are ready to go.