There is one BIG news story today.

Peter Jackson has put aside all the legal disputes he had with New Line and has agreed to get behind THE HOBBIT.

Jackson will exec produce the two films based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth tale. It looks as though Jackson won’t direct the film as he’s pretty busy with THE LOVELY BONES and TINTIN but this involvement will surely appease fans who have been retiscent to support this film without him.

Sam Raimi is the front-runner to direct and he would be an excellent choice and, dare I say it, it’s possible he could do a better job than Jackson. Raimi is no generic Bay/Ratner hack, that’s for sure.

Here’s the complete press release from MGM/New Line courtesy of Coming Soon:-

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson; Harry Sloan, Chairman and CEO, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM); Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne, Co-Chairmen and Co-CEOs of New Line Cinema have jointly announced today that they have entered into the following series of agreements:

* MGM and New Line will co-finance and co-distribute two films, The Hobbit and a sequel to The Hobbit. New Line will distribute in North America and MGM will distribute internationally.

* Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh will serve as Executive Producers of two films based on The Hobbit. New Line will manage the production of the films, which will be shot simultaneously.

* Peter Jackson and New Line have settled all litigation relating to the “Lord of the Rings” (LOTR) Trilogy.

Said Peter Jackson, “I’m very pleased that we’ve been able to put our differences behind us, so that we may begin a new chapter with our old friends at New Line. ‘The Lord of the Rings’ is a legacy we proudly share with Bob and Michael, and together, we share that legacy with millions of loyal fans all over the world. We are delighted to continue our journey through Middle Earth. I also want to thank Harry Sloan and our new friends at MGM for helping us find the common ground necessary to continue that journey.”

“Peter Jackson has proven himself as the filmmaker who can bring the extraordinary imagination of Tolkien to life and we full heartedly agree with the fans worldwide who know he should be making ‘The Hobbit,’” said Sloan, MGM’s Chairman and CEO. “Now that we are all in agreement on ‘The Hobbit,’ we can focus on assembling the production team that will capture this phenomenal tale on film.”

Bob Shaye, New Line Co-Chairman and Co-CEO comments, “We are very pleased we have been able to resolve our differences, and that Peter and Fran will be actively and creatively involved with ‘The Hobbit’ movies. We know they will bring the same passion, care and talent to these films that they so ably accomplished with ‘The Lord of the Rings’ Trilogy.”

“Peter is a visionary filmmaker, and he broke new ground with ‘The Lord of the Rings,’” notes Michael Lynne, New Line Co-Chairman and Co-CEO. “We’re delighted he’s back for ‘The Hobbit’ films and that the Tolkien saga will continue with his imprint. We greatly appreciate the efforts of Harry Sloan, who has been instrumental in helping us reach our new accord.”

The two “Hobbit” films – The Hobbit and its sequel – are scheduled to be shot simultaneously, with pre-production beginning as soon as possible. Principal photography is tentatively set for a 2009 start, with the intention of The Hobbit release slated for 2010 and its sequel the following year, in 2011.

The Oscar-winning, critically-acclaimed LOTR Trilogy grossed nearly $3 billion worldwide at the box-office. In 2003, “Return of the King” swept the Academy Awards, winning all of the eleven categories in which it was nominated, including Best Picture – the first ever Best Picture win for a fantasy film. The Trilogy’s production was also unprecedented at the time.

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Those of you who’ve ventured to multiplexes to see I AM LEGEND will have had the fortune of seeing either the exclusive IMAX preview for THE DARK KNIGHT or its theatrical trailer. The eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed this:-

This billboard features in the film and carries a 05-15-10 release date. Its presence is likely down to the film’s screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, who worked on a failed BATMAN VS. SUPERMAN project a few years ago.

We probably will see the end of mankind before a BATMAN VS. SUPERMAN movie as Warner Bros have bypassed that idea in favour of a JUSTICE LEAGUE film. Personally, I would love to see this “could’ve been” film - the idea of Christian Bale facing off against Superman (lets have someone who can actually act, sorry Brandon Routh and Tom Welling) is tantilising.

There were a myriad of unproduced Batman films in the late 90s and early 00s. When BATMAN & ROBIN crapped the bed the people behind the franchise began to think that maybe they should take things in another direction. I think these are all the projects that were under consideration, hit up Batman on Film for more info:-

BATMAN TRIUMPHANT - Joel Schumacher would’ve returned to the franchise, this time using Scarecrow as the villain. Interestingly I AM LEGEND screenwriter Mark Protosevich wrote a draft of the script.

BATMAN YEAR ONE - Darren Aronofsky utilised his wonderkid tag to develop a grim and gritty origin story with Frank Miller. His take was extremely different to the eventual Dark Knight genesis movie, BATMAN BEGINS.

BATMAN BEYOND - Based on the hit animated cartoon about an aging Bruce Wayne and the new Batman. This film was developed by writers Paul Dini, Alan Burnett and Bruce Timm and director Boaz Yakin.

BATMAN VS. SUPERMAN - Wolfgang Petersen signed on to direct Andrew Kevin Walker’s script (which was rewritten by the aforementioned Goldsman). Rumour had it that Colin Farrell and Jude Law were to star.

WB sure have given I AM LEGEND a nice push in terms of marketing and these little Batman related “add-ons” and with these numbers it looks like it all paid off.

source - /film

Jon Stewart is going to have the hardest and most pressurized job any host at the Academy Awards has ever had to endure when the 80th annual ceremony beams out in February.

The reason is of course the WGA strike.

You see he won’t be able to read his pre-prepared jokes from a team of writers from an auto-queue, the way I understand it is that he may have to be as spontaneous as possible. I’m not even sure if he will be able to take a piece of paper into the ceremony with him because that would be technically writing the script.

I could be wrong on that one though.

If the strike is to go on till February, then all those members of the WGA will be holding picketing rally’s outside the event on the 24th and a lot more empty seats will have to be filled in the audience. Technically, the WGA members won’t be allowed to attend… so again I’m not as knowledgeable on the strike as most but does that mean actors who write and direct, won’t be able to be there too.

People like George Clooney?

The ceremony beams out to god knows how many millions of viewers worldwide LIVE, it could quickly turn mighty embarrassing for the film industry if things started to go wrong.

source - rope of silicon

Josh Greenbaum is a guy you won’t have heard of. He has yet to make a feature film but he already has an award in his cabinet. Or his bedroom, maybe it’s in his garage? Who knows.

The award he won was the MTV Movie Award for Film-Maker on Campus at the USC and he also shared the Coca-Cola Refreshing Film-Maker Award with a fellow graduate.

Variety say Greenbaum is to take off the safety armbands and will direct THE ART OF COOL, for Columbia Pictures, a movie that sounds like it might be going for the SUPERBAD crowd…

Story centers on a geeky student who discovers the classic book “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu and literally uses it as a survival guide for navigating the social politics of high school.

Studio paid $600,000 against $850,000 for Alex Sabeti’s spec script last year.

Could be fun. We all know that school life is just about the biggest war zone most of us will ever experience in our lives and some of the pointers in that book might actually be closer to the truth than what you would think.

I feel an 80’s revival of high school comedies are on the rise. Look out for this one… and I wonder how many SUPERBAD alumni will be cast in this. At least 2, I’m guessing.

It’s taken John Travolta a year to follow in the footsteps of the rest of the original cast for the big screen DALLAS adaptation (though he was kicked out, rather than left voluntarily) and now you would think it was just a matter of time until 20th Century Fox pull the plug on this long gestured feature.

Travolta’s casting as J.R. Ewing in 2005 was seen as the main focus point of this new adaptation, with the rest of the crew coming together to fit in around him but when problems hit production last year, the film was delayed indefinitely but no doubt because of the big potential pay day down the road, Travolta stayed on board.

Now comes word that he has been dropped and Page Six are speculating that Ben Stiller of all people has been brought in as his replacement.

The last we heard on the film was that it was still a go, this time under the direction of I SPY and JOHN TUCKER MUST DIE director Betty Thomas. Stiller would certainly fit closer to the profile of the type of actor this director usually goes for, so maybe there is some truth to his casting.

No start date is being discussed, hell they haven’t even got a full cast together for this thing yet. I can’t help but feel there must be easier ways for Fox to make some million than this project which hasn’t being going anywhere for such a long time.

source - coming soon

It’s taken 8 months for Luc Besson’s production company Euracorp to find a romantic lead opposite Jim Carrey but at least they spent the time finding the right guy. Variety say Ewan McGregor will play the object of Carrey’s infection in the dark prison comedy I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS from the writers of BAD SANTA.

The movie marks their directorial debut and the first time McGregor has worked with Carrey on film.

Morris is actually a real life guy who became the subject of obsession from Steven Russell, a married father who took part in one to many con jobs and found himself locked in a Texas prison. Russell attempted to escape the prison on four different occasions after his lover was set free, one time bizarrely faking his own death from AIDS and signing his own death certificate.

Neat little cast they have here and I’m anxious to see what this BAD SANTA writing duo can do with the camera. Their script for that hilarious Billy Bob Thornton comedy was razor sharp and Carrey’s badly in need of something like this to make him interesting again.

This one should begin filming in the Spring.