‘THE HOBBIT’ is Safe! Tentative Settlement Reached in Tolkien v. New Line Case

At the end of July we ran a blog post stating there was a possibility that New Line could lose the right to release the The Hobbit if the Tolkien Heirs' lawsuit, Tolkien v. New Line turned ugly.

Today, TheOneRing.net reports the Tolkien v. New Line case has reached a tentative settlement. TORN message board member Voronwë_the_Faithful has the following fantastic news to report from the LA Supreme Court:

“A tentative settlement has been reached in the case. The parties have filed a stipulation that explicitly states that “the parties have entered into a binding term sheet settling this matter, which term sheet is subject to certain necessary ratifications, which may take up to several weeks to obtain.

“In other words, a settlement has been reached, but it needs to be approved by certain unnamed individuals/entities. I’m sure it is a complicated settlement, and I’m relatively sure that it includes specifications to ensure that payments are made on the Hobbit films, so I assume that one of the ratifications needs to come from Warner.

“Generally speaking, these kinds of “ratifications” are a formality and the settlement would not have been entered into unless they were pretty much sure that it would be ratified. I would shocked if the settlement did not go through. In all likelihood, this case is no longer going to provide any obstacle to the Hobbit films.

Hobbiton construction is currently underway in Mata Mata according to director Guillermo del Toro. He laid out a few new Hobbit holes but for the most part Hobbiton will be a reproduction of what was there for the Trilogy. While attending Comic-Con earlier this year Hobbit producer and co-writer Peter Jackson mentioned the script should be finished around this time. Rumour has it The Hobbit script has been finalized and delivered to the studio. The studio may have green-lit the project, and the film is in pre-production. Del Toro recently stated The Hobbit will not be 3D.

Sir Ian McKellan is currently re-reading The Hobbit and is expecting to be back in NZ in March to prepare for his role as Gandalf. Apparently he also knows who they’re getting to play Bilbo.

The Hobbit is scheduled for release December 2011.

Hobbilicious!