Production on THE HOBBIT Pushed to Mid-Summer 2010

Production on the Guillermo Del Toro-directed version of The Hobbit was previously set to begin in March of 2010. Latest news speculates it will be delayed to mid-summer 2010, possibly July. The German site, moviereporter.net, reports that, as part of an interview regarding The Lovely Bones, Peter Jackson estimates filming will begin towards the middle of next year:

“We’re currently working on the second script which we hope to have completed by the end of this year or beginning of next. When the scripts are completed, we can begin with the exact calculation of the necessary budget. We hope to start filming in the middle of next year. However, we’ve received no green light from the studio yet.” (translation courtesy of TheOneRing.net)

More than two years elapsed between the start of filming for The Lord of the Rings movies in October, 1999, and the release of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring in December 2001. However, they are only tackling two films this time, plus the previous movies provide them a head-start on on a number of pre-production items such as some of the set and location designs (Bag End, Rivendell).

The issues facing MGM might be what is holding up that green light, but no one is saying for sure. Jackson also hasn’t given any indication whether this will delay the film’s proposed December 2011 release date. This was for the first film in the new two-parter with the second film scheduled for December 2012.

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Source: TheOneRing.net