Sam Raimi seriously considering Hobbit News

[kmccarney]

With the recent news and conformation of rumors that Sam Raimi is in fact seriously considering the Directors position on The Hobbit. I would like to take a moment and say a few words that hundreds of thousands of Peter Jackson and J.R.R Tolkien fans around the world have been thinking.

If Robert Shaye (head exec at New Line Cinema) were smart he would reconsider his current decision in terms of who will direct The Hobbit. If he were smart he would know that "The Ringers" (Lord of the Rings Fans) were the ones that brought in the $2.92 Billion in Worldwide Box-office Sales, making it the most profitable movie trilogy in history, not to mention the additional hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars in DVD sales. It’s The Ringers who go back 2, 3, and 4 times (some people, including myself, a lot more than that). He is going to lose that this time around if Sam Raimi directs and there are many reasons as to why. First, the continuity won’t match. Raimi is a good visual director and that’s about it. Spiderman is good eye candy. Period. He can keep a story going but he sucks at character development, dialogue choices (have you heard the cheesy lines in Spiderman and don’t tell me its because it’s a comic book adaptation because look at the X-Men movies, it’s called good dialogue), and many other areas in which Peter Jackson excels at. Point being their styles are too different for people to subconsciously accept they are looking at part of the same story. Peter Jackson captured the magic of Tolkien’s writings and was able to do so because he loved the books as much as The Ringers did and was terrified of letting them down. He was able to make an instant classic because of the brilliant team standing behind him. Raimi was offered the deal on a silver platter and doesn’t seem to have the same appreciation and passion that the team at Wingnut and Weta had, and the only comment we have received from him is " Oh sure that seems like a fun tale to tell and I will do it if Peter doesn’t mind" he also stated that it has "more childish aspects" or something like that. Don’t you get it? We’re all screwed; he is going to make it as cheesy and childish as his Spiderman movies. Mind as well call it Eragon 2, because that is exactly the kind of movie you are going to get with a CG oriented director behind the wheel. I know what some of you would say, “Look at all the CG in the Lord of the Rings. True, but everything that could be shot on location or that could be build or created or achieved without the use of special effects and blue screen was done so first before they turned to Weta Digital to do their job. I mean these guys turned to every trick in the book. Bringing complicated camera tricks like force prospective as well as creating new innovative techniques along the way. Don’t forget Peter chose to plant trees and bushes in Hobbiton a YEAR in advance just to get the right look and feel. Just one of thousands of little things they did that, even though they may have taken more time, they went the extra mile to make sure it was done right. A process less and less common among directors nowadays.
What a disgrace, and I mean literally. Any director who picks up the reins to The Hobbit (with or without Peters "Consent" is disgracing these great films and Peter Jackson. Out of sheer respect not one director out there should even consider the title of director on The Hobbit.
For god sake people The Lord of the Rings Trilogy was nominated for a total of 30 Academy Awards. 30! Can a movie trilogy get any better than that, honestly? I don’t think so.
Peter Jackson is the only man for the job.
Let me ask you this, who is going to replace Peter, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens in terms of the brilliant adaptation from book to script. Raimi can’t even turn a comic book into a script without making everyone cringe. Who is going to replace Richard Taylor and the amazing crew at Weta Workshop? Who is going to put the amount of detail they contributed back into the world of middle-earth? It’s not going to be any crew from L.A. I can tell you that much.
Who is going to replace concept artists Alan Lee and John Howe not to mention the virtually priceless knowledge of metal-working John Howe contributed to the original trilogy. Speaking of which, whomever it is that takes over the whole process of prop-making is going to have to re-learn every single thing that Weta Workshop spent years learning and developing. Sounds like an awful waste of time and money to me.
Who will replace the returning lead characters such as Gandalf, Bilbo, and Gollum (Can you imagine another actor playing Gollum? It would be Jar-Jar Binks all over again and anyone else playing Gandalf would be an absolute disaster.) To be quite honest Raimi’s casting decisions just plain suck. He’s probably just itching to cast Bruce Campbell as Thorin Oakenshield.
The list goes on and on of people who will have to be replaced yet can’t be if any justice is to be given to the film.
Here’s another thing Robert Shaye, have you ever considered that you can trick people into watching a movie with a good trailer (which is what you are going to have to do), but once they have seen the movie and realize what a piece of SH#T it is, how are you going to sell the DVDs, HD-DVDs and Extended DVDs and Limited Edition DVDs and Ultra-Limited Edition DVDs? I'd like to see you try if and when the movie is a flop. All the Spiderman fans in the world won’t bring you $2.92 Billion I can tell you that. There are a lot more Tolkien fans out there than Spiderman fans too.
If I have been a little harsh I apologize but it frustrates the hell out of me when I see potential of this kind being tossed out the window.
And to think this all had to happen because of something so simple. However, Peter Jackson said it, James Cameron said it and now I am saying it. If Robert Shaye didn’t steal from Peter and has nothing to hide why, on Gods green earth, would he refuse an audit on Fellowship of the Ring, especially considering this is the movie business where hundreds of millions of dollars are begin spent and audits are pretty much a standard procedure.
If Robert Shaye were smart he would realize that ultimately in the end a Good movie makes a lot more money than a Bad one, especially seeing how as though it’s the money he’s after anyway.

Peter Jackson for The Hobbit!

Again, Sam Raimi you are a fine director but Hobbits don’t belong to you stick with your spiders!
(and for god sake fire your script writer.)


What does everyone else think?