This has been going on for too long, and there is too much bad blood, not to mention greed from all involved. Jackson and New Line and the entire government of New Zealand (seriously, their involvement can't be underestimated) sprung LOTR on the moviegoing public virtually unawares -- and in this case, they would be expected to capture the lightning in the bottle twice, with the material that is way more whimsical and way less engrossing.
Which would have been achievable, if they had kept their humility and respect for Tolkien along the way. But PJ didn't even have the courtesy to thank JRRT during his acceptance speeches for ROTK, and I just think this is as good an indicator as any of the approach he'd take to making the "prequel".
I'm also not sure at all that PJ is the only filmmaker alive who can do Tolkien justice on the big screen. He might be farther away from it than he ever was, actually. Just because noone else tackled this material, you can't say noone else could.
But these are all moot points. It might be a fun little movie once it gets made, or it might be a Frankenstein monster of an overbearing megaproduction. In any case, it's not getting made before the strike, and that's all that matters for the next 12 months.
