Guillermo del Toro leaves "The Hobbit"

On May 30, 2010, director Guillermo del Toro has announced that he is leaving production of Warner Bros. film adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien’s book The Hobbit. As a result of movie studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios’ (MGM) bankruptcy, the film, set in Middle-Earth and predating the famous Lord of the Rings trilogy, has seen a large number of delays in its production that is ultimately contradicting with del Toro’s schedule to produce other projects.

Del Toro posted on TheOneRing.net “After nearly two years of living, breathing and designing a world as rich as Tolkien’s Middle Earth, I must, with great regret, take leave from helming these wonderful pictures.” and that he was “faced with the hardest decision of my life”.

As of now, del Toro is scheduled to do a remake of Frankenstein for Universal Studios, as well as a number of other projects lined up. Producer Peter Jackson has stated that the movie’s production schedule will move along unaffected by the change but no replacement for Guillermo has been found yet.