Peter Jackson Hobbit Return on the Cards?  11/28/06

The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson has been assured he will film the movie adaptation of The Hobbit after all by legendary film producer Saul Zaentz.

There was uproar last week (ends24NOV06) when Jackson announced he had been told by bosses at New Line Cinema his services were "no longer needed" in the making of The Hobbit and another unnamed LOTR prequel, because of an ongoing legal dispute over royalties from the fantasy trilogy.

Leading actors Sir Ian McKellen and Elijah Wood, who plays Gandalf and Frodo in the LOTR films respectively, have both publicly expressed their dismay at the news, with Wood calling the dismissal "very foolish".

However, Zaentz, who owns the screen rights to Tolkien Enterprises, says, "(The Hobbit) will definitely be shot by Peter Jackson.

"Next year, The Hobbit rights will fall back to my company. I suppose that Peter will wait because he knows that he will make the best deal with us.

"And he is fed up with the studios. To get his profit share on the Rings trilogy, he had to sue New Line. With us, he knows that he will be paid fairly and artistically supported without reservation."