The Hobbit Now Filming By Summer 2010

Just before the Thanksgiving holidays last week, Peter Jackson gave a Hobbit update to In The News. Long story short, the first draft was completed and turned into Warner Brothers for approval and/or ogling by studio executives.

Now that we’re all returning to work after a long-ass weekend of stuffing our faces (like I’ve ever needed an excuse to do that), comes another update on the two-part Lord of the Rings prequel.

You can go ahead and scratch off filming to start up March 2010. I know we’ve been told that date forever and a day now. You can thank MGM going up for sale as the factor. It wasn’t flat out stated as being the reason. But everyone knows that’s why.

German website Movie Reporter (translated via One Ring) has the quote straight from Jackson himself:

"We’re currently working on the second script which we hope to have completed by the end of this year or beginning of next.  When the scripts are completed, we can begin with the exact calculation of the necessary budget.  We hope to start filming in the middle of next year. However, we’ve received no green light from the studio yet."

If summer comes and goes with production still not started up, we can kiss off that Christmas 2011 release for Hobbit Part I. Again, this won't get any smoother until MGM just sells off its shart of Hobbit rights. My money's on Warner Brothers buying that up themselves. It might also be the reason we haven't heard any casting announcements.