Who should direct "The Hobbit"?

[A Little Green]

Tim Burton, absolutely. I think he has not only a stunning vision of fantasy and myth, but also a lovely twisted sense of humour. I'd love to see what he'd do with the Hobbit. Of the others, well, Guillermo del Toro would be interesting as well.

PJ, on the other hand, would do well to leave the Hobbit for someone else. I'm quite bored of his massive, effect-oriented style of picturing Middle-Earth and I'd love to see another director's vision as well. Besides, I wouldn't like ME becoming known only by PJ's versions.

[Groin Redbeard]

I would love to have Peter Jackson do the Hobbit, since he was the one who started the Lord of the Rings he should finish it, but if I could pick any other directer it would be Peter Weir. Both he Jackson stay pretty true to the books, that they make into movies.
Jackson and Weir would make an awsome team!

[Nogrod]

Given these options it should be Peter Weir (to have a quarantee of a good film) or Tim Burton (to have a quarantee of an interesting and fresh film).

[Sauron the White]

Daily Variety is reporting this today

After "Drag Me to Hell," Raimi is expected to go right back up the mountaintop and take the helm of "The Hobbit" films for New Line and MGM now that Peter Jackson has made it clear he won't direct.

Sam Raimi -- is he on anybodys wish list?

[Kitanna]

Tim Burton does a good job with turning books into movies. I'm not sure I'd want him directing The Hobbit though. Adamson did a good job with Chronicles of Narnia and he could probably do the same for The Hobbit. PJ would seem the obvious choice, but I'd like to see someone else's vision of Middle-Earth. Taking this seriously, I'm not sure who I'd like to see directing it.

However, I thought about humorous choices, like Stanley Kubrick (yes, yes I realize he's dead). But image Bilbo floating on a barrel down a river of blood. Or Gandalf riding a bomb down right in the middle of the Battle of Five Armies. Not to mention the Goblin King throwing a pony bone into the air, only to have it become an eagle.

Daily Variety is reporting this today

Is that so? Did he direct all three Spider-Man films? Because the first two were good, but that third one was something else.

[zxcvbn]

I'm sceptical of Sam Raimi because his previous example in the fantasy genre was Xena Warrior Princess. I would say that the best person to direct the Hobbit so as to tie it in with the LOTR film trilogy would be Peter Jackson himself. Can't he tell Spielberg to direct the first Tintin film so that he'll be free?

[Thenamir]

There is an unconfirmed report on marketsaw.com that PJ may do exactly that - pass on the first two Tintin films to direct the third, which will leave him barely-adequate time to direct The Hobbit.

And as I voted for Sam Raimi but never defended my vote, I will do so now. First, Sam Raimi has indicated intense interest in the project - it wouldn't be "just another movie" to him, as it was not for PJ. Second, he has simultaneously professed respect for the existing work of Peter Jackson on the LOTR movies, and not keen to make radical changes in the style. Third, while the Spider-Man movies are not Fantasy per se, they do involve filming fantastic elements and making them look real. Raimi's work can be credited with virtually singlehandedly reviving comic-books (ahem, graphic-novels) as viable movie franchises.

So what if his last fantsy work was Xena? His work since then has been sterling, and I think he'd be a great choice.