Peter Jackson has warned Lord of the Rings fans not to get too excited about The Hobbit prequels - because they have yet to receive the go-ahead from movie studio executives.
Jackson has signed on to co-write and co-produce two Hobbit movies, based on the fantasy novels by J.R.R. Tolkien, which will be directed by Guillermo del Toro.
Reports suggest the first film is slated for release in 2011, while the second part will follow in 2012.
But Jackson insists the projects are still in their very early stages - and they've yet to come up with a script, let alone secure funding for the movies, reports Starpulse.
Speaking at Comic-Con in San Diego, California at the weekend (25-26Jul09), Jackson said, "I mean, people assume that we have a green light and we're making the movie which we don't. I mean, we have to deliver the script.
"The studio obviously has to approve the script and then we have to budget that script because we have no budget yet. They're not going to make the film with an open cheque book so we have to figure out how much it's going to cost and if that's going to be okay."
And Jackson is refusing to begin speculating about casting until the script is finished - despite Lord of the Rings actors Sir Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis already expressing their desire to reprise their roles in the franchise.
He adds, "We have a process to go through that really, once we get the script delivered, we can break it down, we can do the budgeting, we can figure out schedules and we can move onto the second script that we have to obviously start writing immediately (after) the first one's done.
"Then we can start casting the movie once we have a budget and once the studio greenlight the movie."
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