First, its studio – the one that owns the rights to the film’s vital underlying property – fell into financial difficulty and couldn’t find a buyer. Then, the director quit. Then there were other finance setbacks, Then there were the union wrangles. Now, it seems someone has walked in front of yet another black cat because, within minutes of being greenlit, Peter Jackson‘s two-part feature ‘The Hobbit’ is... 

There’s trouble at ‘mill as Peter Jackson, still a little big headed from his triumph with the LOTR trilogy, says he’ll move ‘The Hobbit’ parts 1 and 2 from New Zealand unless the Australian actors’ union wakes up and smells the coffee. There’s been a huge kerfuffle over the last few days with the production not playing ball with the unions and, to date, seven unions have told actors not to take roles in the films. Jackson says he’ll... 

No, the poster stresses, this is NOT an extras casting call. Rather this poster, released today down under, is for hobbits. But hobbits in scale rather than for real. Everyone’s been waiting for ‘when already’ with ‘The Hobbit’ which has had more changes than David Bowie when it comes to who’s doing it, when it’s happening, who’s in it and all that. The only things we do know is that 1) it was a book,...