It has been rumored, speculated and otherwise bantered through the Lord of the Rings fan community that Guillermo del Toro had been approached by Peter Jackson to direct a feature-film version of The Hobbit. Last night, del Toro’s involvement was finally confirmed by Variety. The Hellboy and Pan’s Labyrinth director has agreed to helm not only an adaptation of The Hobbit, but also a sequel film which will include storyline that will fill the gap in time that exists between the events in The Hobbit and those in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy.
The announcement was made in conjunction with New Line and MGM, who will be sharing in distribution and financing of the films. Del Toro will be moving to New Zealand later this year to begin collaboration with Peter Jackson and special effects house WETA. No release date has been set for the films, as production isn’t scheduled to begin until later in the year. Del Toro has scheduled four years for the two-film project, so expect a release date somewhere in 2011 – 2012.
Read the original article over at Variety.