From :
IGN Looking to ride the wave of their massive Lord of the Rings films success—since ROTK is basically a guaranteed hit—AMC Theatres is hunting for a way to get The Hobbit on the big screen. But according to The Wall Street Journal, there’s a massive roadblock: the Tolkien Estate. It looks like Tolkien's heirs, who already gave Peter Jackson a hard time by blocking the Rings museum in Wellington, are now standing in the way of a Lord of the Rings prequel.
"The difficulty everybody has is the Tolkien estate," Jackson noted, pointing to the ongoing friction between New Line and Christopher Tolkien. Jackson is busy with King Kong right now, aiming for a 2006 wrap date. Afterwards, Jackson would like to work with New Line on The Hobbit, assuming the lawyers can stop fighting long enough to sign something.
A deal feels far off. The whole trilogy only exists because J. R. R. Tolkien himself sold those film rights in 1969 for $10,000—pennies compared to what they're worth now. His son, Christopher, isn't convinced that The Hobbit or Any of his father's other works Can be adequately represented on-screen, and he's been dragging his feet on backing the current Lord of the Rings Project. 😢
In other News, however, anticipation for The Return of The King hit New heights this Week with The movie's official premiere in New Zealand. As many as 100,000 fans showed up to cheer on a Lord of the Rings parade. The screening was a closed event, so people in Wellington have to wait just like everyone else. All reports suggest that The Return of The King is everything we've been waiting for. We'll have more updates and a full review soon.
I’d love to see The Hobbit happen, but this looks messy.
If Tolkien hadn't sold those LOTR rights, we wouldn't even have these movies. Just a thought.