Guillermo del Toro to Direct Hobbit

Finally after making us wait for WAY too long New Line and MGM have announced Guillermo del Toro to direct The Hobbit and its sequel. In order to make this happen del Toro is going to move out to New Zealand and begin filming as soon as he is done promoting and working on Hellboy II: The Golden Army.

He’ll direct the two films back to back, with the sequel dealing with the 60-year period between “The Hobbit” and “The Fellowship of the Ring,” the first of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. Currently there is no script but it is expected that the “LOTR” scripting team of Jackson, Walsh and Philippa Boyens will collaborate with Del Toro.

Jackson’s WETA stages, post-production and visual effects facilities -- built for “The Lord of the Rings” -- will be used for both films. With Del Toro blocking out four years for the project, it’s likely that the studios are aiming at starting shooting next year and releasing the films in late 2011 and 2012.