Whatever happened to The Hobbit?

[Hilde Bracegirdle]

Yes, I do hope that whoever takes up the challange, looks at the book's story, aside from its connection to LotR and the stigma of being a children's book. It really has the detail to be a fine story on its own, if taken seriously. It need not be too dark to work effectively, or too giddy. I for one hope they don't ratchet up the drama at the expense of the story, like they did in LotR. It is good enough without all the artifice.

[Rhod the Red]

It's the subject of racketteering you might say, over 'rights', etc.

[Mithalwen]

While I am in the camp who find the Hobbit irritating in its style when I go back to it now but it is still a great story and while i would have loved tolkien to have written an adult version - a full version of the "Quest of Erebor" as glimpse in Unfinished tales, I am delighted personally that Peter Jackson will not be directing The Hobbit and I hope that it will be taken on its own terms.

While, I think that the "artistic impression" of the LOTR films were their great strength, Tolkien's own pictures for the hobbit are so memorable that I hope that they will inspire whoever does make the film. I also hope they go easy on the CGI ......

The Hobbit does have it's darknesses - but most good children's fiction does. I hope it is done as a family film and not souped up - I really don't want to see Bilbo liberating the dwarves as some Die Hard sequel

[Lalwendë]

I don't have this problem with The Hobbit. To me it's just part of Tolkien's work and as it's on Middle-earth I don't get hung up on the style. What's the point of over-intellectualising it? But I think that it only really became a sticking point in the wake of Jackson's films anyway; these are dark, epic films and really do ramp up that element of LotR, when in fact the books are often whimsical and that's something Jackson glosses over a lot with his films. So we've got to a point where almost by osmosis readers just accept The Hobbit as "A Kids' Book". Funny thing is, there are plenty of people out there who also think of Lord of the Rings as "A Kids' Book".

And like LotR has whimsical elements, The Hobbit is also quite dark.

As long as Smaug gets all due respect as one of the Best Dragons Ever and is done well, and any new director does not portray the Hobbits as slightly deformed, big-headed creatures (like the Hildebrant brothers' nasty portrayals) then it should be OK whether it's light, dark or preferably somewhere in-between.