Daily Variety reports that Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson and screenwriting collaborators Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens have officially announced their participation in New Line Cinema’s adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Rings prequel, The Hobbit. Jackson will be working with fellow filmmaker Guillermo del Toro (Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Pan’s Labyrinth) on two Hobbit films tentatively slated to begin production in 2009 for releases in 2011 and 2012.
The Hobbit tells the story of a young Bilbo Baggins, who is recruited by the wizard Gandalf to recover a lost treasure and eventually takes the ring of lore from Gollum. New Line’s sequel will reportedly focus on the 60-year period between the events portrayed in The Hobbit and the first Lord of the Rings installment, The Fellowship of the Ring. New Line, now a subsidiary of Warner Bros., and MGM will co-produce and co-finance both films.
Del Toro will be directing the pics back to back. Jackson, Walsh and Boyens will handle writing duties and serve as producers. The trio collaborated on the screenplays for all three of the Lord of the Rings movies, winning an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Return of the King. Jackon is currently directing The Lovely Bones, the adaptation of the popular novel by Alice Sebold, which stars Mark Wahlberg, Susan Sarandon, Rachel Weisz and Saoirse Ronan, set for a fall 2009 release. He is also producing the Spielberg-directed Tintin and Halo, also 2009 releases.
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