Del Toro To Direct The Hobbit

Guillermo Del Toro, director of fantastic films such as Pan's Labyrinth, Hellboy and The Devil's Backbone, has been confirmed via The Holloywood Reporter (story here) to direct 2 back-to-back features based on Tolkien's The Hobbit.

It's been known for a few weeks that Peter Jackson and New Line finally settled their litigation surrounding profits for the first Rings installment, and that The Hobbit would be done as 2 films, but when it was originally announced Jackson was only listed as a producer. This hinted at a busy slate for Jackson (with The Lovely Bones and Tintin both in various stages of production) and a possible new director. With Del Toro confirmed, production should begin in 2009 with release dates of Christmas 2010 and 2011.