All of which is why a 'faithful' (or anything even close to it) adaptation of The Hobbit is out of the question at this time. Putting the story as it is on screen would be to guarantee a bomb - even Tolkien disliked the 'twee' nature of the early part of the story - hence his (failed) attempt in 1960 to rewrite it 'in the style' of LotR.
What I've found most interesting over the last few years as regards the TH movie is how few people actually want to see it - to see
Tolkien's story on screen that is. Since it was first discussed by movie fans the focus has always seemed to be on how characters like Aragorn, Arwen & Legolas could be included (or at the least 'Orlando Bloom could play Thranduil, & John Rhys Davies Thorin' etc) how the White Council's assault on Dol Guldur could be integrated into the storyline, etc. Once it was announced that the first movie would be a straight adaptation of the book the focus seemed to shift entirely to the second movie - which could include all those things. In fact, it seems like many movie fans are looking forward more to the second movie than to the first.
I'm sure Warners is looking very carefully at what the fans want to see - & what the fans want to see is all the old gang back 'hunting some Orc'. What they
don't want to see is a story set sort of in the same world, but with, in the main, different (entirely male) characters.
For all the studios profit is the bottom line, particularly at the moment, & they are going to look very carefully at what kind of Hobbit movie is going to bring in the biggest returns. I don't think that a 'faithful' adaptation of TH would bring in as much as the second movie that's being proposed (which will use many of the LotR characters/settings). The question is will Warners decide to put
that movie at risk by putting out a faithful version of TH first?
http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jim_hi...n-treader.aspx
http://www.actressarchives.com/news.php?id=13929
Quote:
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Disney’s decision is expected to severely effect, if not prevent, production on the franchise’s third installment, “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” which was scheduled to begin shooting in early 2009. Walden was previously reported to have scaled down “Treader’s” budget from $200 million to somewhere between 100 and $150 million.
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So a cut in budget by up to half - what by shooting the exteriors on a back lot & the interiors on blue screen, with the cast doubling up roles? I suspect that audience expectations are for something on the scale of the previous two.