well, it's sort of bumpy on whether or not peter jackson will be directing the hobbit film that is aimed towards a 2009 (mgm and new line's ideal release time, but not an official date). for those of you who are uninformed, over the past few months peter jackson has been dealing with a lawsuit against new line cinema. he claims he hasn't been paid the amount of money he should have for the lord of the rings trilogy. because of this, he won't budge with new line on making the hobbit. because the rights to the movie are about to expire, new line and mgm are planning on moving forward without jackson, simply because of the small time frame. this is not set in stone, so jackson may or may not be directing. aside from the production complications, mgm has stated they want a 2009 release. predictably they will shoot for christmas, that's my guess. christmas is a good time for big movies. they are also interested in exploring the possibilities of making it a two-part movie. this could be a good thing... they might not cut as much of the story out like they did with the lord of the rings. they're also thinking of including the white council's attack on sauron's hold in mirkwood, and sauron's flight to mordor. my thoughts on all of this are: if peter jackson does it, he needs to do it right. the hobbit could redeem him from hacking up the lord of the rings and turning what could have been amazing into just really good. it's probably not going to happen... so, i'm going to accept the idea of the white council, and expect something unpredictable and lots of special effects that will make up for a possible inaccurate adaptation.