As far back as 1995, Peter Jackson and his co-writer wife,
Fran Walsh, had expressed interest in adapting The Hobbit into a film. They
intended The Hobbit to be part one of their Lord of the Rings (LOTR) trilogy. However, due to problems over legal ownership of the rights to The
Hobbit and Peter Jackson’s lawsuit against New Line
Cinema over lost income, the adaptation of The Hobbit fell into a limbo. 
Then in 2007 it was announced that New Line Cinema, in
partnership with MGM Studios, would go ahead with the adaptation of The Hobbit.
However, Peter Jackson chose not to direct, remaining only as executive
producer. Nevertheless, it looked as if The Hobbit would finally come to fruition as a motion
picture, albeit without Peter Jackson at the helm, only for hopes to be dashed
when the Tolkien Estate (through the Tolkien Charity) and Harper Collins
Publisher sued New Line Cinema for what they saw as fraud by the studio for
withholding entitled profits from them (the Tolkien
Estate being entitled to 7% of all profits made from Tokien films). This was
eventually settled out of court, but the legal process had blocked the filming
of The Hobbit from progressing. When
filming finally began, the Mexican director Guillermo del Toro was chosen to
spearhead the film project. But because of financial issues and other
bureaucratic nuances relating to The Hobbit production, del Toro felt that the
delays were too much for him to remain as director and announced that he was
leaving the role. After many talks, in October 2010 New Line Cinema (who had
now merged with Warner Bros) revealed to the public that Peter Jackson would
replace del Toro as director. The troubles with The Hobbit didn't end there
though, when the International Federation of Actors issued a ‘no work order’
that threatened to delay production further and possibly even cause it to move from New
Zealand to skirt the industrial dispute. Eventually, with widespread protests
and the intervention of the New Zealand Prime Minister, John Key, the dispute
was settled and production stayed in the country. 
Now after years of waiting, and almost a decade after the
release of the last LOTR film (The Return of the King), the first part of The
Hobbit (An Unexpected Journey) will premiere in Wellington, New Zealand on the
28th of November to what is sure to be an enthusiastic reaction from
millions of J.R.R. Tolkien fans around the world.
To celebrate this momentous moment in cinematic history,
Shop New Zealand has begun stocking a large range of The Hobbit: An Unexpected
Journey related collectibles and memorabilia. Take a sneak peak and be prepared
for the inevitable release of director Peter Jackson’s latest adaptation of
Tolkien’s work!
We’re just as stoked as the millions of Tolkien and Peter
Jackson fans around the world!
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