Peter Jackson is currently doing international press for his new, ahem… film, “The Lovely Bones” — a gooey, new-agey serial killer thriller? We’ll have to get that one off our chest later, but woo boy, yikes — and apparently when asked by German reporters what’s happening with “The Hobbit” he doesn’t have a lot of positive things to say. Last we all heard the “Lord Of the Rings” prequel was supposed to shoot in March 2010, but apparently that date has been pushed back a few months.
We’re currently working on the second script which we hope to have completed by the end of this year or beginning of next. When the scripts are completed, we can begin with the exact calculation of the necessary budget. We hope to start filming in the middle of next year. However, we’ve received no green light from the studio yet.”
Still no green light for a series that made billions of dollars world wide, huh? Does the shaky status of MGM and the potential half-sale/half-ownership prospects of “The Hobbit” have anything to do with it? Considering just how much money that original series made, we would have to assume that’s exactly the concern. Will this change the casting situation and actors that are leaving certain months open to shoot? Let’s hope for Jackson and director Guillermo Del Toro’s sake, no. Then again, casting is always a world of happy accidents and disappointments that can always bring interesting new possibilities. [via the OneRing]