MGM is moving forward with the Spyglass reorganization upon its emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. This week, there have been a lot of reports saying this would mean a green light for The Hobbit films, but Peter Jackson tells Empire magazine that they are still waiting on the call.
“You can’t believe everything you read. There is only one thing you want to believe and that’s when the studio announces a greenlight. As far as I’m aware that’s not going to be today,” said Jackson.
He added that there are “a lot of people at Warner Bros. who are working around the clock trying to maneuver through the MGM complexities. MGM is a company that is about to go bankrupt and in a way they are about to take The Hobbit into bankruptcy hell with them when they go down. Warners are trying to extract The Hobbit out of the bankruptcy hell before it happens. It is just so complicated I can’t even put my head into it. It’s all to do with American copyright laws, bankruptcy laws.”
Jackson said that right now he’s a “writer and a producer on it,” though one would expect the green light to come with the announcement that he’s officially directing as well. The helmer mentioned that he’s excited about the project but that he’s also not committing fully until the green light is given by New Line/Warner Bros. and MGM.
“It’s the worst experience ever, to have a film fall over that you’ve committed 100% to. I always just protect myself and don’t fully commit until I know for sure that it’s happening. Then it gets my 100% commitment,” he said.
