Peter Jackson Says THE HOBBIT Still Not Close to a Greenlight

I’m at the point where I won’t believe The Hobbit is being made until I see it with my own eyes.  Speaking to Empire, Peter Jackson says that contrary to recent rumors, The Hobbit still isn’t anywhere close to a green light.  Said Jackson:

“We are nowhere different to any other reports or conversations,” Jackson told us last night. “We haven’t got a greenlight yet. We’re still waiting. Things still seem to be inching closer to some sort of happy place. I keep hearing that so many times now I’ve stopped tuning into it.”

For Jackson’s explanation of where the project stands and how he’s currently still only a writer and producer on The Hobbit, hit the jump.

According to Jackson, Warner Bros., who co-owns the rights with dying studio MGM, is trying to get the full rights to The Hobbit before MGM drags the project into “bankruptcy hell”.  Says Jackson:

“We’ve seen these reports before, reports saying there was going to be a greenlight in a couple of days — well, a week’s gone by and there isn’t one,” adds Jackson. “You can’t believe everything you read. There is only one thing you want to believe and that’s when the studio announces a greenlight. As far as I’m aware that’s not going to be today. I keep hearing positive things. Everyone’s working very hard. There’s a lot of people at Warner Bros. who are working around the clock trying to manoeuvre through the MGM complexities. MGM is a company that is about to go bankrupt and in a way they are about to take The Hobbit into bankruptcy hell with them when they go down. Warners are trying to extract The Hobbit out of the bankruptcy hell before it happens.”

And while there have been reports that Jackson is officially on board to direct, he says that’s not the case at this point:

“At the moment, I’m a writer and a producer on it…I always just protect myself and don’t fully commit until I know for sure that it’s happening. Then it gets my 100% commitment.”