Filming on The Hobbit to Start Summer 2010

This week there was a quick update on The Hobbit from producer Peter Jackson, who is starting to make the rounds promoting this month’s The Lovely Bones.  Jackson and director Guillermo Del Toro have been deliberately vague on details for the double feature, tentatively scheduled for December 2011 and December 2012, but they confirmed in the past few weeks that the first script is complete.

Jackson updated German film site Moviereporter.net on their progress, and it was translated by Tolkien fan site TheOneRing.net:

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.

The mid-summer goal is a slight delay from the earlier plan to start photography on the New Zealand set in March 2010.  It has taken longer than expected for the writing team behind the Lord of the Rings trilogy to hash out the two prequels.  No word on whether this will affect the previous announced release dates or when we’ll know casting of the Hobbitsies.

It is a bit of a shock that Warner Bros hasn’t given the green light to Jackson and Del Toro though.  I understand it’s customary to wait for a script and a budget outline, but they’re essentially sitting on a billion dollars in potential revenue.  I’m not delusional enough to believe WB won’t return to Middle Earth, but it’s staggering to think about two guaranteed blockbusters held in limbo.  Precioussss…