Inching closer to The Hobbit film

[Meriadoc1961]

I am looking forward to it, regardless of who makes it. Although I have offered my share of criticism, I still believe Jackson could and would do a good job with it.

Merry

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Of course Bob Shaye can count. And if his beancounters tell him that PJ directing "Gandalf versus Godzilla" will put butts in the seats, he'll be on it like flies on roadkill.

A match made in Hell- the producer of Nightmare on Elm Street and the director of Brain Dead.

[Sauron the White]

A match made in Hell- the producer of Nightmare on Elm Street and the director of Brain Dead.

That particular neighborhood of Hell certainly must produce some tremendous pairings for this one netted $4 billion dollars US, 17 Academy Awards including Best Film, numerous other industry awards including a spot on the American Film Institute top fifty films of all time, and nearly unanimous professional critical reviews.

If that was a union or match made in Hell, please put me down for the next pick of that litter.

[Meriadoc1961]

"I'll say it again: There's way too much money to be made on a Hobbit film for it not to happen. It won't be here before 2010 (and even that's probably an early estimate), but it will come. And PJ will be at the helm."

E and E, I am not saying I disagree with you completely, but sometimes some individuals have enough money not to want to to do something again, even when they were successful together previously. The Beatles come to my mind. They were thrown all around all kinds of offers, even as much as $1,000,000 US for a single reunion concert, and it never materialized.

Still, I hope you are right.

Merry

[Sauron the White]

This just in from MTV's Movie Blog

Still buzzing from the advance buzz of “The Golden Compass” at New Line’s 40th anniversary gala in New York on Friday night, New Line’s co-chairmen and co-CEO’s Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne were in great spirits — so we figured they wouldn’t mind a little “Hobbit” question. After all, “Golden Compass” features a mini “Lord of the Rings” reunion of sorts, with Ian McKellan (who of course played Gandalf) voicing the panserbjørne Iorek Byrnison, and Christopher Lee (who played the traitor wizard Saruman) making a cameo in the Magisterium (The voice you hear in the trailer is pre-McKellan, with a different voice actor).

So could a bigger “Lord of the Rings” reunion be in the making, as a “cautiously optimistic” Entertainment Weekly reports, possibly with Peter Jackson as the executive producer and someone else directing “The Hobbit”? (Hear what we learned after the jump.)

Neither New Line nor Jackson’s camp would give comment to the magazine, but Shaye and Lynne, as much as they tried to dodge it, did give comment to us. “One film at a time!” Shaye laughed. “‘The Hobbit’ is in the future,” Lynne said, somewhat mysteriously. Does that mean there’s hope? “There’s more than hope,” Lynne said with a wink, as he walked away. So no details yet, but plans are definitely underway.

[davem]

Well, let's get it over with then.

I intend to try & avoid the whole thing. Another three hours of thud & blunder from PJ would be bad enough, but its the hype, the marketing, the action figures, burgers & breakfast cereal tie-ins, et al that make me really depressed.

Can't Jackson & New Line go off & make a multi billion dollar adaptation of The Wheel of Time or some other trashy fantasy 'epic' & leave TH alone? The thought of that beautiful little tale, the one that sparked my love of Tolkien, being turned into a 'Jacksonian' monstrosity, full of 'comic' dwarves, blood, violence, ugliness, beheadings & general stupidness is too awful to contemplate.

And does anyone really think that this children's book will make it to the screen in a form suitable for children to watch? Nope. More PG-13 close up nastiness to please the 17 year-old boys taking a couple of hours off from playing the latest incarnation of Grand Theft Auto.

[Sauron the White]

Yet again -for what must be my now a number beyond calculation (see how easy it is to do this?) you lapse into hyperbole of the worst sort to heap your special brand of scron upon Peter Jackson. Exaggeration upon exaggeration equaling distortion which no longer even resembles reality is what you seem to specialize in.

THUD AND BLUNDER. No doubt one of your pet phrases since you have used it before in discussing these matters of the LOTR films. In point of fact davem, you may know a great deal about the writings of JRRT, but your knowledge of the films is tiny because of your own self induced blindness.

Here is an example of actual thud and blunder

With one stroke of his fifty-pound sword, Gnorts the Barbarian lopped off the head of Nialliv the Wizard. It flew through the air, still sneering, while Gnorts clove two royal guardsmen from vizor through breasplate to steel jockstrap. As he whirled to escape, an arrow glanced off his own chainmail. Then he was gone from the room, into the midnight city. Easily outrunning pursuit, he took a few sentries at the gate by surprise. For a moment, arms and legs hailed around him through showers of blood; then he had opened the gate and was free. A caravan of merchants, waiting to enter at dawn, was camped nearby. Seeing a magnificent stallion tethered, Gnorts released it, twisted the rope into a bridle, and rode it off bareback. After galloping several miles, he encountered a mounted patrol that challenged him. Immediately he plunged into the thick of the cavalrymen, swinging his blade right and left with deadly effect, rearing up his steed to bring its forefeet against one knight who dared to confront him directly. Then it was only to gallop onward. Winter winds lashed his body, attired in nothing more than a bearskin kilt, but he ignored the cold. Sunrise revealed the shore and his waiting longship. He knew the swift-sailing craft could bring him across five hundred leagues of monster-infested ocean in time for him to snatch the maiden princess Elamef away from evil Baron Rehcel while she remained a maiden — not that he intended to leave her in that condition … .

It was written by Poul Anderson in an essay discussing that type of writing.

http://www.sfwa.org/writing/thud.htm

a complete copy of the essay can be found through the above link.

Thud and blunder is a gross exaggeration to the point where it becomes a parody or satire of its original form - heroic fantasy or the sword and sorcery tale. However, you utilize it merely to throw dirt upon the Jackson films simply because you yourself do not approve of them. And that is rank bias.

A few days ago you posted a wonderful answer to me regarding the question of Sauron needing the ring to win his war against the Free Peoples of Middle-earth. You helped me see that I was looking at it all wrong. I value your opinion on the books and thanked you for that. You are a very knowledgable person when it comes to the writings of JRRT.

But when it comes to the films, you have a blind spot that is large and unyielding. In order to battle the films you take every single inch of possible fault and turn it into a mile. A single pound turns into a ton. A simple farmers hut turns into a skyscraper. You cannot simply state a real situation you must exaggerate it to the point of being ridiculous.

Because the LOTR films contained some sword fighting and battle action they now become thud and blunder. By that standard, every tale involving love becomes a sweaty bodice ripper. Every tale that sees someone killed becomes a bloody gorefest.

Perhaps these are not the films that you yourself would have done if the opportunity and skill had presented itself. But there is great beauty and subtlety in those films. There is great attention to detail and thousands of man hours of labor to get things as right as possible within the limits of the film medium.