I’m surprised there hasn’t been more speculation about this, but at last someone is talking about Peter Jackson doing The Hobbit. Only problem is that there are some issues as to who has the rights to it. New Line would have to get the rights away from United Artists.

UA, of course, won’t want to part with them given the tremendous success of LOTR. Were United Artists to film The Hobbit now, even if it were entirely different from the production of the Lord of the Rings books, it would be a monstrous success. They may also try to lure Peter Jackson, cast and crew to United Artists. Who knows?

Jackson had originally pitched “The Hobbit” but found it would cost in the area of $150 – $200 million to film. Too much, the studios thought. So he countered with the proposal to do three Lord of the Rings movies for $300 million total.

The upfront costs for a “Hobbit” would be much lower, now. He’s developed the size effects, CGI animation for Gollum, MASSIVE army character controls and has giant spiders already programmed. He’s built a Shire and Bilbo’s house, and he’s cast Bilbo, Gollum, Gandalf and Elrond. The movie would be “cheap” to do now, but for having to pay United Artists a pantload of money for the rights to it.