NERD ALERT: I probably shouldn’t even know stuff like this. But I do, and because you looked at this blog, now you do too.
Because of a three-year tug-o-war between MGM and New Line over rights for JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit and the two movies that were to be made from it, the clock on Guillermo del Toro’s commitment has run out, and the prized director is off the project.
We’ll have to wait and see where the project goes from here… del Toro is best known for his creature-creation and world-building, which (as I understand) has largely been accomplished with Weta Workshop. Jackson & co are now on the hunt for a new director. It will be interesting to see how much of del Toro’s artistic vision remains a part of the film. Who knows, maybe he brought his strengths to the table and now they’ll hire one heck of a storyteller to carry out the actual story telling.
To read more, go here. Also, lots of good in-depth artistic info under “Direction” on the Wiki article.