Peter Jackson (Director of LotR trilogy movies), has finally reached an agreement with New Line Cinema's after a long, acrimonious relationship about this project and will now be returning not as director but as executive producer for the new "The Hobbit" movie... or should I say movies - the story will be made in two parts. Production on part 1 begins next year and releases in 2009 while part 2 releases in 2010. They're being shot back-to-back just like LotR. Very cool news!!!!

All this per NPR yesterday.

Update: Appearently, the first of the two movies will be the entire "The Hobbit", while the second movie will be, per today's newspaper (SJ Mercury News) as follows: "The untitled sequel is described as bridging the 60-year gap between the end of J.R.R. Tolkien's "Hobbit" and the beginning of the "Rings" trilogy.

WOW! That will be cool!