Well, the Hobbit movies just got that little bit closer with the completion of deals for Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Guillermo Del Toro to write the two movies (yes, we thought deals were done too). With all I's crossed and T's dotted, the trio can now get on with the business of penning both an adaptation of JRR Tolkien's first Middle-Earth book and a sequel of invented events.
The scripts will have to be complete by the latter half of 2009 since shooting is scheduled to begin in the autumn, with the release of the films then set for 2010 and 2011. It all seems such a very long way away.