Okay perhaps it's not what we've all been waiting for, but it's certainly something I've been waiting for, and really that's all that matters anyway. MGM has just announced some of its upcoming movies and its plans to reenter the movie making business in full force. Among these titles are things like Rocky 6 (actual title being Rocky Balboa), The Terminator 4, and some more Bond movies. I hope for their sakes the Rocky movie is worth watching because you'd think five of them would be enough, and well the same could be said of The Terminator. James Bond movies lost a little something in the area of writing after Goldeneye, but I saw the trailer for Casino Royale and I'm hopeful, but the real story isn't in any of these movies at all, it's in the announcement that came along with them. New Line Cinema and MGM have evidentially finally come to a financial agreement and will be making none other than The Hobbit.

I am as you might expect very excited about this, however, I don't think I'll be heaving any sighs of relief until I hear that Peter Jackson will be directing, Ian McKellen will be playing Gandalf, Ian Holm Bilbo, and of course Andy Serkis Gollum. Those four would be the key to the success of the film and without them I don't think I would even bother watching it. Jackson did say a year or two ago that he would be delighted to film The Hobbit if the distribution rights ever got worked out so we can only hope that he and his production team at WETA Workshop will be back in action and we can see Smaug and company tearing up the big screen.

There was another little tidbit in the press release that I found of interest. They're talking about doing There and Back Again (The Hobbit's other name for those of you unversed in Tolkien lore) as potentially a two part movie. Now Peter Jackson is well known for his lengthy films, case in point being King Kong and the even longer Extended Edition of Return of the King, but would it really make sense to make the Hobbit a cliffhanger two-parter? Sure if you're a business executive who wants more money out of the franchise, but otherwise I don't think it seems to add up. Let's hope that PJ is level headed enough to make the right choice in this area and is able to convince the studio to do the same. If two movies would work, then by all means I'd love to see it done, however, if it wouldn't work, then I want to see the best three hour adaptation of The Hobbit that can be put to screen and Peter Jackson is the one to do it. Here's hoping the studios don't mess things up too much and we get to see another kickin' rad film set in Middle Earth.