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With Peter Jackson promoting his new movie The Lovely Bones around the world, we're getting a lot of updates on the project every Lord of the Rings fans is dying to see: The Hobbit.  While filming was scheduled to begin early next year on the two films, Jackson told the German website MovieReporter.net (via TheOneRing)

"We're currently working on the second script which we hope to have completed by the end of this year or beginning of next.  When the scripts are completed, we can begin with the exact calculation of the necessary budget.  We hope to start filming in the middle of next year. However, we've received no green light from the studio yet."

Now before you get too excited and think Warner Bros. isn't going to make these films, think again.  The Lord of the Rings franchise made the studio an enormous amount of money and nothing is going to stop this project from moving forward.  What is probably happening is the studio wants to see both completed scripts and also a total budget before giving the official go ahead.  No word if a delay in filming will cause the original December 2011 and 2012 release dates to get moved.