'Hobbit' director del Toro quits

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JEDI

JEDI

Lifer
Sep 25, 2001
29,391
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http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Movies/05/31/guillermo.del.toro.drops.out.ew/index.html?hpt=T3

"In light of ongoing delays in the setting of a start date for filming 'The Hobbit,' I am faced with the hardest decision of my life," Del Toro said. "After nearly two years of living, breathing and designing a world as rich as Tolkien's Middle Earth, I must, with great regret, take leave from helming these wonderful pictures.



Why quit an anticipated 9figure blockbuster just because of start date delays?!

Reading inbetween the lines:
This movie is going to be a failure of epic propoptions


What's your take?
 
C

Crono

Lifer
Aug 8, 2001
23,720
1,502
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As long as Peter Jackson is there, I have some confidence in the outcome of "The Hobbit".
 
AMDZen

AMDZen

Lifer
Apr 15, 2004
12,589
0
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Did you even read the article? It explains pretty clearly why he did it:

"We feel very sad to see Guillermo leave 'The Hobbit,' but he has kept us fully in the loop and we understand how the protracted development time on these two films, due to reasons beyond anyone's control -- has compromised his commitment to other long term projects. The bottom line is that Guillermo just didn't feel he could commit six years to living in New Zealand, exclusively making these films, when his original commitment was for three years.
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gorcorps

gorcorps

aka Brandon
Jul 18, 2004
30,741
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They wanted him to stay in NZ for 6 years? What the fuck was going to take so long?
 
C

crownjules

Diamond Member
Jul 7, 2005
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gorcorps said:
They wanted him to stay in NZ for 6 years? What the fuck was going to take so long?
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Reading the article...

Apparently MGM, who holds the majority of the LOTR rights, is going through some financial troubles. It says they might be on the verge of bankruptcy. So I'm guessing it's that threat of potentially losing the rights in the midst of filming that's keeping things on hold.
 
JEDI

JEDI

Lifer
Sep 25, 2001
29,391
2,738
126
gorcorps said:
They wanted him to stay in NZ for 6 years? What the fuck was going to take so long?
Click to expand...

didnt they make back to the future 2+3 back to back in 1year?

there are a couple of other movies that were made back to back in the same time frame. this was done to save on design/production costs, obviously.
i just dont remember the names?
 
C

Crono

Lifer
Aug 8, 2001
23,720
1,502
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JEDI said:
didnt they make back to the future 2+3 back to back in 1year?

there are a couple of other movies that were made back to back in the same time frame. this was done to save on design/production costs, obviously.
i just dont remember the names?
Click to expand...

Production times are long because of all the post filming special effects. Though the Matrix sequels were done in a short time. Not that I liked the sequels that much.
 
K1052

K1052

Elite Member
Aug 21, 2003
52,812
46,641
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crownjules said:
Reading the article...

Apparently MGM, who holds the majority of the LOTR rights, is going through some financial troubles. It says they might be on the verge of bankruptcy. So I'm guessing it's that threat of potentially losing the rights in the midst of filming that's keeping things on hold.
Click to expand...

For lack of a better description MGM is a zombie studio. The private equity companies that own it want to sell but to do so quickly they'd have to take a haircut of 1-1.5 billion to get rid of it. So until a deal comes along development has been frozen and the studio is basically a ghost ship.

This is all a result of film libraries being so vastly over valued that people were buying studios just to get at them regardless of the price. oops.
 
lupi

lupi

Lifer
Apr 8, 2001
32,539
260
126
When I heard about this yesterday I checked his imdb listing. Can't say he's done anything that would make me think this is a significant loss.
 
HardcoreRobot

HardcoreRobot

Lifer
Nov 7, 2000
16,403
3
81
lupi said:
When I heard about this yesterday I checked his imdb listing. Can't say he's done anything that would make me think this is a significant loss.
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Have you SEEN any of the films?

I think he would have done an amazing job. OTOH, based on this thing I read in wired, hes got a TON of projects lined up that he wants to do, I can see why he wouldnt want to commit so much time.
 
dawp

dawp

Lifer
Jul 2, 2005
11,347
2,710
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HardcoreRobot said:
Have you SEEN any of the films?

I think he would have done an amazing job. OTOH, based on this thing I read in wired, hes got a TON of projects lined up that he wants to do, I can see why he wouldnt want to commit so much time.
Click to expand...

Yup, just look at Pan's Labyrinth, that flick is really stunning visually.
 
Theb

Theb

Diamond Member
Feb 28, 2006
3,533
9
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gorcorps said:
They wanted him to stay in NZ for 6 years? What the fuck was going to take so long?
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They have to shoot alternate extended deleted scenes with director's commentary for the special edition DVD rerelease.
 
K

Kev

Lifer
Dec 17, 2001
16,367
4
81
kalrith said:
I don't think it's necessary either. IMO The Hobbit had less content in it than any of the LOTR books, and each of them was done in one movie.
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I read the Hobbit years ago, but wasn't there a "Battle of 5 Armies" which the book basically described as "Bilbo got knocked out and when he woke up this epic awesome battle was over" _ I would like to see that expanded on.

There is also the part about Gandalf going to help fight Sauron which they didn't really go into.

There is plenty in the Hobbit to easily fit 2 movies.
 
PingSpike

PingSpike

Lifer
Feb 25, 2004
21,758
603
126
del Toro is certainly an awesome director. I can understand not wanting to be tied up for 6 fucking years on one project, basically waiting for a bunch of financial bullshit to get sorted out. Big opportunity cost.
 
Anubis

Anubis

No Lifer
Aug 31, 2001
78,712
427
126
tbqhwy.com
Kev said:
I read the Hobbit years ago, but wasn't there a "Battle of 5 Armies" which the book basically described as "Bilbo got knocked out and when he woke up this epic awesome battle was over" _ I would like to see that expanded on.

There is also the part about Gandalf going to help fight Sauron which they didn't really go into.

There is plenty in the Hobbit to easily fit 2 movies.
Click to expand...

Split it where Gandalf leaves them at mirkwood, and you have 2 very solid movies
 
D

darkxshade

Lifer
Mar 31, 2001
13,749
6
81
There's also no guarantee that if he even stuck with it for 6 years that it wouldn't turn out to be 9 later on.
 
zinfamous

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,866
31,364
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PingSpike said:
del Toro is certainly an awesome director. I can understand not wanting to be tied up for 6 fucking years on one project, basically waiting for a bunch of financial bullshit to get sorted out. Big opportunity cost.
Click to expand...

This is my take. He probably has more interesting projects on his horizon, and would rather not be beholden to appease the nerd world for the next decade.
 
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