Having overcome studio bankruptcy, a sea of labor troubles, and most recently the hospitalization of director Peter Jackson for ulcer surgery, it appears that filming of the two-part film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit is now set to begin at last on March 21st at Stone Street Studio in Miramar, Wellington and at locations around New Zealand.

 

The latest delay, which amounts to a little less than month (see “The Hobbit Starts Shooting in February”), is a relatively minor hiccup, especially when compared MGM’s mammoth money troubles and to a labor dispute that threatened to drive the production out of New Zealand (see “Hobbit Leaving New Zealand?”). The cause of the recent postponement was Jackson’s perforated ulcer (see “Hobbit Delayed”). Now the director has been released from the hospital, it appears that the long-awaited production has finally been cleared for takeoff.