HOBBIT CONFIRMED!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[TolkienCollector]

Am reading History of The Hobbit at the mo!!

TC

 

[RoboDad]

My copy arrives from Amazon tomorrow (bought with some Christmas gift money). I can't wait to dive into it!

 

[fool_of_a_took!]

Yeah, It really does add to the whole experience reading The Hobbit first.

Agree.

I was fortunate enough to read The Hobbit when I was young. At the time, I would not even been able to digest LOTR. Just too complex for a young Fool.

 

[Sachiel]

https://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2007/12/will-guillermo.html

I'd like to see this.

 

[Fritz]

https://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2007/12/will-guillermo.html

I'd like to see this.

Because of this statement...

It’s the only Tolkien book I read. I tried my best to read Lord of the Rings, the trilogy. I could not. I could not. They were very dense.

...I would not pick Guillermo del Toro as director for the Hobbit.

 

[Captain Faramir]

Because of this statement...

It’s the only Tolkien book I read. I tried my best to read Lord of the Rings, the trilogy. I could not. I could not. They were very dense.

...I would not pick Guillermo del Toro as director for the Hobbit.

He thought The Lord of the Rings was too dense? Wow. In that case, I really hope he doesn't do Hobbit!

 

[RoboDad]

Maybe he was thinking of Bored of the Rings?

 

[woodsy]

Because of this statement...

It’s the only Tolkien book I read. I tried my best to read Lord of the Rings, the trilogy. I could not. I could not. They were very dense.

...I would not pick Guillermo del Toro as director for the Hobbit.

Perhaps he was referring to the complexity of the trilogy.

 

[RoboDad]

I'm sure he was, but if the guy can't comprehend the complexity of the Trilogy, can he be trusted to handle its prelude?

 

[Captain Faramir]

I'm sure he was, but if the guy can't comprehend the complexity of the Trilogy, can he be trusted to handle its prelude?

Not in the least!

 

[The Josh]

Got my $10 HC Annotated Edition of the Hobbit today.

 

[Corwin]

Ok, I'm holding a copy of THE ANNOTATED HOBBIT, Revised & Expanded Edition, Houghton Mifflin, 2002. On Page 367 starts Appendix A. The Quest of Erebor.

According to the introduction, it is essentially Gandalf's explanation of how he arranged Bilbo's adventures as told in The Hobbit. It's a very cool story, it takes place in Minas Tirith after the coronation of Aragorn. The story is written in first person point-of-view by Frodo, and it details the happy quiet days the hobbits spent in Gondor before returning to the wacky fun of the "Scouring of the Shire" chapter of The Return of the King.

Frodo relates a conversation he has with Gandalf, along with Gimli and the other hobbits. Gandalf basically loosens up his infamous mysterious act and tells how he put all the various machinations into play that resulted in the destruction of Smaug and the return of dwarves to Lonely Mountain; he also explains why.

In this telling, he talks of the White Council, and his adventures in Dol Goldur, the fortress of the Necromancer of Mirkwood, aka Sauron, aka The Dark Lord of Mordor, aka Scion of Melkur, blahbahblah.

This Appendix was written by J.R.R. Tolkien sometime in late 1954 or 1955, scholars surmise. It was originally intended to be in Appendix A of The Lord of the Rings, but was removed before publication for considerations of space. A version of it was published in Tolkien's Unfinished Tales.

Sooooo..... it's canon, because it was written by Professor Tolkien and intended for publication. It appeared in neither The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit, until this 2002 annotated edition was published.

If Jackson & Co. are going to expand The Hobbit into two films by including scenes from the White Council and Gandalf in Dol Goldur (as many of us guess), then this is the Appendix where Tolkien wrote of what happened. Not in TREMENDOUS detail, but then, Tolkien didn't write Boromir's actual death scene, nor did he ever say how Saruman actually imprisoned Gandalf in Orthanc. The filmmakers extrapolated, and usually with well-received results.

BTW, on a cool geek/nerd note, every LOTR fan should read this little story. It's like a deleted scene, it's a real gem.
-AH!

The thing is "The Quest of Erebor" was first published in "Unfinished Tales" the film rights to which were never granted.

Must admit I did not know it was republished in TAH but I would guess that would not make a difference. I would class "The Annointed Hobbit" as a totally seperate book to "The Hobbit" and thus any material in it that was not in the original Hobbit book would not have been covered in a film deal made long before TAH was published.

There is a brief version of the QoE story in the LotR apendicies so the film makers can use the events in the film(s) but they may have problems if they want to include elements that only appear in the full QoE.

 

[Darklord Dave]

If Fran and Peter write the script I don't think I'd have a problem with del Toro directing. He's a very visual director and would be good in combination with PJ producing.

 

[RoboDad]

My concern, though, is all the subtle details and cues that will tie the story of this movie to the larger world of the trilogy. If Jackson isn't involved on a day-to-day basis (and with his schedule, I doubt he will be), and del Toro doesn't know the trilogy, he won't think to add in that level of rich detail and texture. That is one of the things that I love so much about the movies, is the amount of background detail that brings life to Middle-earth.

No, I really think we need someone at the helm who is well-versed enough on the trilogy to understand the "signs and portents" of the events in The Hobbit.

 

[tomandshell]

My concern, though, is all the subtle details and cues that will tie the story of this movie to the larger world of the trilogy. If Jackson isn't involved on a day-to-day basis (and with his schedule, I doubt he will be), and del Toro doesn't know the trilogy, he won't think to add in that level of rich detail and texture. That is one of the things that I love so much about the movies, is the amount of background detail that brings life to Middle-earth.

No, I really think we need someone at the helm who is well-versed enough on the trilogy to understand the "signs and portents" of the events in The Hobbit.

What he said!

Del Toro would give us a great movie and tell the story creatively, but that extra layer of detail and history that came through in PJ's adaptation would be missing without the kind of involvement and attention that PJ has already admitted that he is unable to provide.

But has Sam Raimi read Tolkien? I think that between the two I would prefer del Toro if they are equally unfamiliar with the source material.

 

[The Craw]

del Toro's never read LOTR?!? "FIRED"!!! "NEXT"?

 

[Atom Hues]

The thing is "The Quest of Erebor" was first published in "Unfinished Tales" the film rights to which were never granted.

Must admit I did not know it was republished in TAH but I would guess that would not make a difference. I would class "The Annointed Hobbit" as a totally seperate book to "The Hobbit" and thus any material in it that was not in the original Hobbit book would not have been covered in a film deal made long before TAH was published.

There is a brief version of the QoE story in the LotR apendicies so the film makers can use the events in the film(s) but they may have problems if they want to include elements that only appear in the full QoE.

I only mentioned the Quest of Erebor story in the Annotated Hobbit in response to someone's concerns about where additional material culled to fill out two Hobbit films might come from. The poster commented, in a very final way, that only The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings could be used as source material for extra film content, therefore the filmmakers would have to invent the extra matrial. My only reason for posting about the Annotated Hobbit was to alleviate fears about the extra material.

As to whether or not the Quest of Erebor may or may not be used, well, unless anyone here has actually read the contracts between New Line Cinema, MGM, Peter Jackson's production company (or for that matter, Saul Zaent's original agreement with J.R.R. Tolkien), then none of can actually say what may or may not be used.

As for the dates of the agreement preventing the Annotated Hobbit's appendices being used as "canon fodder", well, by all reports the Hobbit film deal is a relatively new agreement, and the Annotated Hobbit was first published in 2002.

I'm not trying to argue with anyone. I'm just saying that the additional material that the filmmakers are saying will pad out the book into 2 films COULD be culled from canon written by Professor Tolkien himself, and not just be 'made-up Hollywood stuff'.

Just trying to be helpful.

 

[the Doctor]

If Fran and Peter write the script I don't think I'd have a problem with del Toro directing. He's a very visual director and would be good in combination with PJ producing.

if you want a director to drag out a seen like some in the original trilogy then get the guy who did spiderman...the puppy love seens almost took up the hole first film!

 

[Radagaster]

I have a feeling that PJ already knows he can do 2 movies without the need to pad it. So, just as he got the greenlight to do 3 LOTR movies, I think he's got a good sense that he can get away with 2 for The Hobbit movie. Granted he could have handled the epilogue scene of ROTK better (how many ways can one say goodbye??), I don't think that detracted from making ROTK any shorter. So, in short, if PJ says he can do 2 movies out of the material, then I'll trust him on that.

Adam, I didn't know you were into Tolkien! We should have you take a stab at an AH! version of Eowyn, Galadriel, or Arwen! Maybe even a Rosie Cotton! That would be a sight to behold!!

 

[Corwin]

As for the dates of the agreement preventing the Annotated Hobbit's appendices being used as "canon fodder", well, by all reports the Hobbit film deal is a relatively new agreement, and the Annotated Hobbit was first published in 2002.

Nope, New Line have had the film Rights for quite a few years now and were in fact soon about to lose them if this deal had not gone ahead.

Not sure exactly when they aquired them off Saul Zaentz but it was certainly before 2002.

MGMs Distribution Rights to a Hobbit film date back to the 1950's or 60's.