The Hobbit director CONFIRMED! (AGAIN)

Last time, they said yes Guillermo del Toro is directing the Lord of the Rings prequel, The Hobbit, but then they said he hasn't signed the dotted lines yet, so it's still slightly iffy, especially with another lawsuit thrown at New Line. Now, it's official, he has finally signed the dotted lines. I bet in his version of Middle Earth, the monsters get more screen time. Expect the two-parter to arrive in 2011 and 2012! Read the full article from Variety here.

The Hobbit director CONFIRMED!

Guillermo Del Toro, director of Cronos, Mimic, The Devil's Backbone, Blade 2, Hellboy 1 & 2 and Pan's Labyrinth will helm the two-parter prequels to Lord of the Rings! TheOneRing.Net was the first to break the news (link here).

Apart from the physical resemblance to LOTR director Peter Jackson pre-diet phase, Del Toro is more arthouse than a Spielberg like Jackson. His knack for putting interesting visuals and themes onscreen (and his love for creatures and assorted monstrosities sure helps) usually more than covers for his shortcomings in pacing and editing (exception: Blade 2). I still think Jackson is the better choice for keeping the Middle Earth universe consistent with the trilogy, which is what people loved in the first place. But since it's going to be Del Toro, I hope he's given free reign to do his own interpretation, and not try to ape Jackson, who was already kind of aping Spielberg. Bryan Singer, the very talented director who made two really good X-men movies, tried to ape Richard Donner, and came up with the disappointing Superman Returns (which could have used a little more of his X-men sensibilities in it). I really hope The Hobbit isn't going to be Del Toro's Superman Returns.

Early X-mas present: The Hobbit a go with Jackson and co.!

New Line, MGM and Peter Jackson are finally joining forces to adapt J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, the prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy! Though it was obvious Peter Jackson and co. would have been the right people to do the material justice, a lawsuit Jackson filed against New Line for money owed two years ago threatened to stop that from ever happening. It is likely that personal feelings were cast aside after New Line's latest attempt to start a new franchise out of Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass proved to be less than stellar at the box office. Despite this most welcomed development, there is no firm indication that Jackson would direct the two-parter prequel. He's only mentioned as executive producer. Personally, it defeats the purpose of all the drama and uproar and petitions to get his involvement, only to have him sit on the sidelines as producer. It's his directorial knack for creating Middle Earth that got people all stoked, and having just his name appearing in the credits somewhere won't be enough. At least LOTR effects house WETA and maybe LOTR composer Howard Shore (another strained relationship when Jackson fired him from King Kong) will be back to keep the LOTR ambience consistent.

Sam Raimi has expressed interest in directing The Hobbit before, while people are suggesting directors like Alfonso Cuaron, Guillermo del Toro and Terry Gilliam in the comment sections of other sites if Jackson is truly not back on the director's seat. Cuaron's an interesting idea, though, but I'm for Jackson all the way, because it makes sense, not because I'm a raving PJ fanboy. Honest.