For those of you who don’t know, I am a Lord of the Rings movie junky. Just like my Gabaldon books, I go back to these movies as needed, when I’m in search of a little “comfort food.” My husband was a huge fan of the books long before the movies were spoken of, and so I begrudgingly sat down with him one night to watch the first movie on DVD, figuring I would fall promptly asleep on the couch. I was so wrong…I fell in love with the story, the characters, the cinematography. I was inspired to read the books, thankfully! I don’t believe I would have picked them up otherwise.
So now, we’ve been awaiting news of The Hobbit. It looks like there will be a movie beginning production in 2009… Apparently Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, executive producers, hired director Guillermo Del Toro to direct the two Hobbit films. I’m not clear on why Peter Jackson isn’t directing them himself, but I do trust that any director he hires has the vision needed for this project. I’ll see what other news I can dig up. I think the only real hope I have is that he casts the two Ians to reprise their roles as Gandalf and Bilbo Baggins.
http://www.thehobbitblog.com/?p=50
Addendum: It looks like Ian McKellan will be reprising his role as Gandalf.
And here’s a little old news (from January) that I thought was interesting.
http://www.firstshowing.net/2008/01/11/elijah-wood-confirms-dual-hobbit-movie-details/
A Half Hour a Day 
Liked the books and the movies. I was glad Ian McKellan was coming back. Didn’t know they were planning on making two movies though. Wonder why The Hobbit warrants that when they only made one movie from each of the trilogy books. Still, I’ll be looking forward to their releases.
stphoto…From what I’ve read, it sounds like the first movie may be an adaptation of the book, then the second movie, a bridge story spanning the sixty years between The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring. Sounds like they may use stories from the Appendices, along with some original writing to fill in the gaps. Could be interesting I suppose.