MGM, New Line Cinema and Director Peter Jackson have jointly annouced today that they have reached the following series of agreements:

• MGM and New Line will co-finance and co-distribute two films, The Hobbit and a sequel to The Hobbit. New Line will distribute in North America and MGM will distribute internationally.
• Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh will serve as Executive Producers of two films based on The Hobbit. New Line will manage the production of the films, which will be shot simultaneously.
• Peter Jackson and New Line have settled all litigation relating to the Lord of the Rings (LOTR) Trilogy.

The two new Hobbit Films - The Hobbit, and its currently unnamed sequal, are scheduled to be shot simultaneously with pre-production set to begin immediately. The Hobbit is tentatively scheduled to be released in 2010, with its sequal to be released in 2011.

The Oscar-winning, critically-acclaimed LOTR Trilogy grossed nearly $3 billion worldwide at the box-office. In 2003, The Lord Of The Rings: The Return of The King swept the Academy Awards, winning all of the eleven categories in which it was nominated, including Best Picture — the first ever Best Picture win for a fantasy film. The Trilogy’s production was also unprecedented at the time.

Visit The Hobbit Blog for more information

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