Partial Confirmation: Jackson Directs "The Hobbit" If New Line Loses Rights (2008)!

More confirmation that Peter Jackson will be directing "The Hobbit"! The CBC is reporting that Saul Zaentz told the German film magazine "Cinema" in a recent interview that Peter Jackson WILL BE directing "The Hobbit".

This obviously backs up MarketSaw's (here and here) as well as our sources going out on a limb and guaranteeing that this would indeed happen. So in essence, even if worse comes to worse and Jackson and New Line cannot agree to a settlement, Peter still directs when the rights to "The Hobbit" revert back to Zaentz in 2008! Of course New Line wants to keep the franchise and they are working feverishly to come to terms (my sources claim an agreement in principal has been reached). As I have said before - mark my words folks, Peter Jackson is directing "The Hobbit" - I guarantee it.

Now that Jackson is in, it is a matter of seeing an official announcement as well as details such as that the movies are in two parts AND IN 3D, as exclusively exposed here on MarketSaw. A cool byproduct of that is seeing the original LOTR trilogy being re-released in 3D too.

Awesome. Simply awesome.

Update: I am digging deeper into this story by checking with the CBC's due diligence on it. One of my readers, David, pointed out that the German magazine quote could in fact be referring to a 2006 interview and is not fresh news. Needless to say I am acting quickly to ensure the veracity of the post with the CBC. Normally I trust them without question. I will update one way or the other ASAP. Also, thanks to Aaron for alerting me to the story to begin with.

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This New Lawsuit Has A Familiar Ring To It...

The Lord of the Rings producer, Saul Zaentz is suing New Line for his share of the proceeds from the trilogies worldwide take of $3 Billion. Ok. The timing is interesting on this one. Why did he wait until now (or rather this past Thursday) to file? Peter Jackson also has a pending case against New Line filed in 2005. Could it be that New Line and Peter Jackson are nearing an agreement that does not include Zaentz? Rhetorical question as I believe they are.

Could it be that Zaentz was counting on Jackson forcing New Line's hand in court to reveal all audit documents to come up with what money was owed to both parties? One of my sources has indicated that Peter Jackson and New Line have a new agreement in principal that forgives past transgressions in favor of a better deal for "The Hobbit".

I have said all along that Jackson will be the director of "The Hobbit". I stand by that statement. It'll be interesting to see what happens here in the short term. Quite the soap opera we've got going here.