I’m all for it.  Blade 2, Hellboy, and Pan’s Labyrinth were all awesome.  I’m a huge fan of Jackson’s LOTR trilogy, but I’m not a purist to the point of winging about him not directing the Hobbit films.  I would’ve been upset if they had gone on without any creative input from him, which seemed quite possible after his feud with New Line over royalties from the original trilogy.  But he won, and he has chosen an excellent successor.  I’d even be willing to believe that del Toro might do a better job.  It’ll be very interesting to see how he operates within the universe that Jackson and Weta have already developed.  He creates such stunning visuals, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how he leaves his mark on the franchise.  All of the key players (Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis, etc.) should be back now that Jackson with be executive producing.

Also, I was sort of puzzled by the original announcement of two Hobbit movies, but they say that one will fill in the gap between the first book and the trilogy.  There isn’t any reason why del Toro shouldn’t be able to fit pretty much everything from the book into the movie, especially if it runs as long as the trilogy films did.  “The Hobbit” is fairly short.  CAN’T WAIT to see what his Smaug is like.

And it’s great that Peter Jackson lost so much weight, but don’t you think it makes him look even more like a hobbit?