UPDATE on The Hobbit!

As HUMUNGO fans of the LOTR trilogy, we're super duper excited for The Hobbit: Part 1, coming soon. Of course it's in two parts so they can make a bazillion dollars off all the ring worshipping geeks  extremely cool people (including us).

Did I ever tell you Angie and I lived as Hobbits one weekend? We draped ourselves in potato sacks and let the hair grow on our feet...errr... I mean, we glued fake hair on our feet. We headed out on a great journey. A journey that tested our strenght and spirit. A journey that brought us to the far reaches of this land.

Ok, ok. We didn't actually go on a journey, or have our strength and spirit tested. And we didn't actually grow our feet hair, nor did we leave the couch. But we DID marathon the LOTR movies. So there.

Anyways, in a shocking twist in the development of The Hobbit, Guillermo del Toro has dropped out of the director's chair! Guess being trapped in development hell got the best of him.

Del Toro says:

"In light of ongoing delays in the setting of a start date for filming "The Hobbit," I am faced with the hardest decision of my life. 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. I remain grateful to Peter, Fran and Philippa Boyens, New Line and Warner Brothers and to all my crew in New Zealand. I've been privileged to work in one of the greatest countries on earth with some of the best people ever in our craft and my life will be forever changed. The blessings have been plenty, but the mounting pressures of conflicting schedules have overwhelmed the time slot originally allocated for the project. Both as a co-writer and as a director, I wish the production nothing but the very best of luck and I will be first in line to see the finished product. I remain an ally to it and its makers, present and future, and fully support a smooth transition to a new director."

What do you guys think? Who should take over as the director? Should Peter Jackson (listed as exec producer on this project) resume his original role?