Will THE HOBBIT find a new home?

Acquisition could open the door for Peter Jackson to make a film of Tolkien's RINGS prequel

By Patrick Sauriol     July 19, 2004
Source: Variety

The path may be clearing for Peter Jackson to one day make a film from J.R.R. Tolkien's THE HOBBIT. As it stands now, MGM owns the film rights to HOBBIT, preventing the makers of Jackson's LORD OF THE RINGS movie trilogy, New Line Cinema, from making the prequel tale into a movie. When first asked if he had any interest in making a movie from THE HOBBIT, Jackson said no, but now that the RINGS movies are done, he's warmed up a little to the possibility. But would the Oscar-winning director make THE HOBBIT for another studio? It's doubtful.

However, rumors have been heard that Time Warner, the parent company of New Line, may be interested in purchasing MGM and its library of movie titles. If that did happen the legal hurdles will have been cleared and Jackson could make THE HOBBIT film a reality.

MGM's management team is ready to consider the Time Warner offer but there's another hitch: rival studio Sony Pictures is continuing with its bid to get MGM. It could be a matter of which megacorp makes the sweetest offer first.


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