Del Toro: 'The Hobbit 2' Faces Legal Monster

As you may already know, The Hobbit film was originally meant to be made into two films, one would be the actual story line of the book, the second would be made to bridge the gap between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, but here it looks like there's yet another legal hurdle concerning material for the second film.

Read this little exerpt that I found:


"Email this storyBy MARX PYLESource: SciFi WireJul-02-2008


"The legal battles surrounding the world of "The Hobbit" continues ...
Director Guillermo del Toro ("Hellboy," "Pan's Labyrinth") told SciFi Wire about his plans for directing two Lord of the Rings prequel films. The first will be based solely on J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit." The second film will act as a bridge by focusing on events hinted at in the books that led up to Lord of the Rings.

"But copyright restrictions limit del Toro to only "The Hobbit" and the three volumes of The Lord of the Rings. That means "The Silmarillion," completed by Tokien's son, which offers backstory and mythology, plus any other Tolkien writings, are off limits.

"But del Toro said optimistically, "There is enough ... narrative abridgement and some other pieces of narrative and suggestions and appendix notes and this and that to guide and create something that will not infringe anything else. But it's too early for me to swear by it. I think that that's the real creative endeavor on the second film."

"Defiantly, del Toro plans on reading all "Lord of the Rings" material out there whether he can us it or not. He feels that it is better ... "Not to know it and use it, but to know it and not step on those things." "


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