Del Toro Quits 'The Hobbit'

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Mithalwen

I really hope that a completely fresh approach is given. It is long enough now - after all there is a generation of children who weren't born when LOTR was released who are now the perfect age for a children's movie of The Hobbit - would it be such a bad thing if it were made as such rather than as a prequel to Jackson's LOTR?

No, it would not be a bad thing; in fact, it may be the right thing to do over the long-term.

*Snickers*

Granted, 'long-term' and 'Hollywood' are mutually exclusive.

But how many generations of children have grown up and bequeathed a copy of the Wizard of Oz movie to their children and they to their children? As a book, The Hobbit is generational -- the movie could be a classic in the same manner. But like in the Wizard of Oz, monkeys may be flying out of some aperture better not named.

Originally Posted by Ibrîniðilpathânezel

I also have to wonder if Del Toro left because he wanted to be more faithful to the book, and the studio hated it....

Sigh....

I had wondered the same thing. GdT had dropped by the TORn site many times to discuss his ideas on the making of The Hobbit, and he was quite reverential of the text and the humor suffused throughout. Based on his candor, I assumed he was definitely intent on keeping things to scale and within the parameters of Tolkien's original storyline. PJ, as we all know, overscales everything, and although he is producing this time around, I am wondering how heavy-handed he is in the scriptwriting. He is certainly prone to go too far afield in his fan-fic inventions and frivolous flights of fancy.

My take? Certainly del Toro's time investment got to be too much; he had been at it since 2008, but now there are rumors that the film will not be released until 2013 and perhpas even 2014. Six years is a bit much for a full-time investment in a film, but given the high profile nature of the movie, its staunch fandom and the inherent wonder of the tale, one has to think that perhaps del Toro felt that he would not get the scope necessary to make it 'his film' and that PJ was holding the reins a bit too tightly on someone of GdT's stature (and it could be argued very convincingly that over their careers GdT has had a far better track record than PJ).

Look for PJ to either eventually take the reins himself (no matter what his 'manager' says, PJ may be too hands on to resist), or merely get a 'hired gun' like Sam Raimi to act as PJ's henchman.