And directing The Hobbit...perhaps!?

[Sauron the White]

davem... I suspect you are in for a great disappointment if your wants for HOBBIT include talking animals, the songs, and a more fairytale feeling to it all. I suspect we will see something that is far more consistent with the first three Middle-earth movies.

There are reports right now that New Line wants as much continuity in terms of what is on the screen as they can get between these two films and the first three which did so well in so many ways. They want to strike box office gold again... an again. The best way they feel they can do that is to replicate as much as they can from the formula used for the LOTR films. That means Peter Jackson, WETA, Howard Shore and many other elements that show up on screen giving the ticket buyers a feeling of familiarity.

This is a film franchise now, like it or not. Many important decisions are being made on the basis on increasing the bottom line. As we all know, the film business is, after all, a business. And the main business of business is making money. If they are going to invest some $150 million US dollars in each of these two movies, you can bet they want to see that number multiplied at least five times, maybe more.

I did see the stage production - when it debuted in Toronto - and would give it a four on a scale of ten. I do not know what pictures you did see, but the costumes, just like the entire production - were very uneven with flashes of brilliance mixed in among the outright ridiculous. Some of the costumes in the big song and dance number in Bree looked right out of the Disney DAVY CROCKETT movie complete with coonskin caps. On the other hand, Galadriel was stunning. Somebody had the bright idea to make Saruman look like Otto Preminger in STALAG 17 complete with floor length black leather coat. Aragorn had these charcoal marks under his eyes like American football players use. They called this a musical but not one musical number was memorable or something you wanted to sing as you left the theater. And about half of it was that Cirque Soliel wailing - of which I am not the biggest fan.

The most telling thing about the play happened when it was over. Almost the entire crowd was there because they were LOTR fans. We will not debate for the moment where and from what medium that came from. I, and I assume they, wanted to like the play. When the play ended, there was applause which can only be described as polite. There were no encores, no curtain calls, none of the usual stuff. The appluase laster about one minute and then people filed out. The reaction was one of indifferent mediocrity.

I have read where the London production is being much more well received. Perhaps they made some changes for the better. Or perhaps its a different crowd.

The Hobbit is a wonderful work in its own right, & shouldn't be put in the service of another work. If there's to be a 'model' for a Hobbit movie it should be The Wizard of Oz meets Pan's Labyrinth, not Jackson's LotR.

I do think you have something there. I would not be unhappy if that was the road they decided to travel down. We will have to wait and see. I suspect what we will see is something a bit between what you describe and Jacksons LOTR films. Time will tell.

Adding something here: you mention songs in HOBBIT and the tone of WIZARD OF OZ. Lets take one of the songs from HOBBIT as written by JRRT. Chapter VI - the dwarves and Bilbo and Gandalf are up in the trees surrounded by goblins and wargs. The goblins then sing the song which begins with the line
Fifteen birds in five fir-trees,
their feathers were fanned in a fiery breeze!
and it goes on.

There are lots of ways this could be presented including a straight song like "Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead" from Oz. Or another way would be to have various golbins sout different lines of it as taunts toward the treed prisoners. It comes off as more of a real taunt than a singsong broadway tune that stops the movie and everybody says "what a cute song those ugly orcs are singing". That is how I would do it .... as if that counts for anything.