After months of accusations and cross-accusations regarding The Hobbit movie, Peter Jackson and Inline finally agreed that Guillermo del Toro would direct, and the screenplay would be written by Philippa Boyens and Peter Jackson. Jackson is the Executive Producer, and he and del Toro have just announced that there will be not one Hobbit film, but two. The Hobbit Part One will be released in December 2011, with The Hobbit part two following in December 2012. The two movies, according to del Toro and Jackson, will encompass not just the core plot of the novel, but the activities of the White Council and Gandalf's travels to Dol Guldur. You can read more about it here, but most of our questions—like who and what and where—are still unanswered. The official site, which mostly has lots and lots of speculation, is here.
But while we wait for the Hobbit film to be released on May 3 we will at least have The Hunt for Gollum. It's a 40 minute independent fan-driven film inspired by The Lord of the Rings. The Hunt for Gollum will be released on the Internet on May 3 2009, for free. The film, although made very much on a budget (less than 3000 pounds) nonetheless uses high production values, as you can see from the trailer below.
And if that's not enough Middle Earth goodness for you, the first legal professionally produced ebooks of The Hobbit and the entire LOTR trilogy, are now available for Amazon's Kindle and eReader Pro. Right now, the eReader versions are 50% off.