Jackson to produce 'The Hobbit'

Peter Jackson has announced that he is to produce a two-part adaptation of JRR Tolkien's 'The Hobbit'

There was news last year that a big-screen adaptation of JRR Tolkien’s ‘The Hobbit’ had hit the rails due to monetary quibbles between distributors New Line and original ‘Rings’ director, Peter Jackson.

Well, it looks like differences have been put aside and the director has announced that he has come on board in a producer's capacity for a two-part prequel that’s set to go into production in 2009.

However, Tolkienites will surely agree that with Jackson keeping his artistic input to a minimum, there is a distinct possibility that these films could go the way of recent, more anonymous fantasy fare such as ‘The Golden Compass’. New Line co-CEO, Bob Shayne, reassured fans by saying that Jackson will be ‘Intimately involved with the creation of the script and all the creative elements’.

Jackson has cited overwork as his reason for not taking the opportunity to direct, with adaptations of Alice Sebold’s ‘The Lovely Bones’ and a live-action reworking of ‘Tintin’ in the pipeline.

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