Hobbit back in Jackson’s court

Peter Jackson has settled his long-running legal dispute with New Line and will make The Hobbit for the studio as originally planned. Jackson and his creative partner Fran Walsh have announced that they will produce two films based on the book, but it is unlikely that Jackson will direct either of them. “Peter won’t be directing because he felt the fans have waited long enough for The Hobbit,” says Jackson’s manager, Ken Kamins. “It will take the better part of every day of the next four years to write, direct and produce two Hobbit films. Given his current obligations to both The Lovely Bones and Tintin, waiting for Peter, Fran, and Phillippa to write, direct and produce The Hobbit would require the fans wait even longer.” The first of the two films will be a straight adaptation of The Hobbit; the second a new creation by Jackson and Walsh linking The Hobbit to the first Lord of the Rings instalment. Pre-production on both films begins in 2009.