And directing The Hobbit...perhaps!?

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Well, to be frank, considering the films that Jackson had made before doing the LotR, would we have considered him the right candidate as a director? And despite all of the inconsistencies and weaknesses we book fans find in his version, he did amaze us with a wonderful set of visualizations and with a stronger trilogy of movies than anyone, I think, would have expected.

[Child of the 7th Age]

“You know the beauty of The Hobbit, if it were to happen,” adds del Toro, “is that The Hobbit, out of all the books, is the one that resembles more a fairytale.

"I loved this very Hitchcockian idea of a very proper, prissy character with a very limited universe being taken on a journey where danger and pain and loss ultimately enhances his view of the world. And that to me is a very, very powerful story…”

This at least sounds promising.

[Tuor in Gondolin]

And del Toro might do betterjustice then (say, PJ would)
to the morally complicated situation near the end of TH
with competing claims/rights of the "good guys" to
Smaug's treasure hoard.

[Sauron the White]

and Howard Shore may be along for the ride also
this posted today

In an IF Magazine interview with LOTR composer Howard Shore, the interviewer asks Howard Shore about his potential involvement with the upcoming ‘Hobbit’ films:

“iF: Do you hope to be scoring THE HOBBIT for Peter?

SHORE: Yes, of course. The book is wonderful and I’ve dreamed of writing music for it.”

[Azaelia of Willowbottom]

I'd be ok with Del Toro. He has a great sense of imagery. I'm just concerned that his vision for Middle-earth won't match up to that in the other movies. He generally seems to like things dark. Dunno if that would be true if he were adapting someone else's work, though. Either way, I think he's the best choice we've heard since it became clear this would be happening with PJ as producer (I still kind of want PJ to direct, for unity of vision purposes, but I may be in the minority as far as that's concerned, and it's not going to happen anyway so that's a moot point).

I'd love to see Howard Shore come back. His music is gorgeous and it really captured Middle-earth for me. Even before seeing FOTR, I had the soundtrack and was marveling at how everything sounded so right.

[Sauron the White]

Variety is reporting that Universal Pictures is making a pitch to tie up Del Toro on their own projects.

U also was caught off-guard after they aggressively courted Guillermo Del Toro, the filmmaker behind "Pan's Labyrinth" and "Hellboy." The studio gave him a first-look deal, picked up a sequel to "Hellboy" with a budget of more than $80 million, and even bought the rights to his dream project, the H.P. Lovecraft epic, "At the Mountains of Madness."

But U brass was stunned to suddenly see Del Toro emerge as the likely director of the next two "Hobbit" movies for New Line and MGM. That would lock him down for four straight years in New Zealand.

Langley acknowledges, "We're in discussions with how to rectify that with Guillermo."

The looming legal battle on the shadow of uncertainty of a start date may cost the project the services of Del Toro.