Guillermo del Toro To Direct the Hobbit

The Hobbit Teaser Trailer

The sad, lonely decline of New Line Cinema -- it was folded into Warner Brothers and co-chairs Mr. Shaye and Mr. Lynne were asked to depart -- is perhaps a logical result of Bob Shaye's colossal executive arrogance in failing to come to a deal with his creative charge, Peter Jackson. The pathetic "The Last Mimzy," Shaye's attempt at doing what Peter Jackson does so much better, was a straight-to-cable affair, was only the proximate cause. Finally, a resolution. From Variety:

"In a major step forward on 'The Hobbit,' Guillermo del Toro has signed on to direct the New Line-MGM tentpole and its sequel.

"The widely expected announcement -- which had been rumored for several weeks -- came Thursday afternoon jointly from exec producers Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, New Line president Toby Emmerich, and Mary Parent, newly named chief of MGM’s Worldwide Motion Picture Group.

"Del Toro’s moving to New Zealand for the next four years to work with Jackson and his Wingnut and Weta production teams. He’ll direct the two films back to back, with the sequel dealing with the 60-year period between 'The Hobbit' and 'The Fellowship of the Ring,' the first of the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy.

"...The official signing of Del Toro comes four months after New Line settled a lawsuit with Jackson over 'The Lord of the Rings' and announced that it had agreed with MGM to turn J.R.R. Tolkien’s 'Hobbit' into two live-action films. Sam Raimi had been preceived as the initial front-runner as director but Del Toro had emerged in recent months as the likely candidate."

Let's hope Del Toro -- who did a brilliant turn in the eerie Pan's Labyrinth -- puts a little flavor in the film, because, seriously, the LOTR was about the whitest. Movie. Ever.