The Hobbit to begin filming next year

Filming on The Hobbit is set to begin in February after it was finally given the go-ahead by film studio bosses.

Warner Bros also announced that Peter Jackson, who directed the Oscar-winning Lord of the Rings trilogy, would helm the two-part prequel.

The films, based on JRR Tolkien's book, had been delayed for months due to MGM Studios' - which owns half the project - ongoing financial woes.

According to industry paper Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros and MGM reached a deal allowing MGM to cover its half of the production, estimated to cost a total of $500m (£313m).

Jackson, who co-wrote the screenplays and is also producing the films, originally hired Mexican-born Guillermo Del Toro to direct, but he pulled out in June citing almost two years of delays.

Last month, the project was threatened further after Jackson warned production could cease or be moved from its location in New Zealand over a pay wrangle with acting unions.

In a statement, Jackson said: "Exploring Tolkien's Middle-earth goes way beyond a normal film-making experience. It's an all-immersive journey into a very special place of imagination, beauty and drama. We're looking forward to re-entering this wondrous world with Gandalf and Bilbo."

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This news are talking about the future project The Hobbit, which is set to begin in February. The project has been stopped for a long time, because they had some problems to record the movie in New Zealand, but now it seems that they will start. Really, I can't imagine The Hobbit without being recorded in New Zealand!

I'm happy because Peter Jackson will record the two movies of The Hobbit. At first, he said that he wouldn't record them, but at last it's the contrary. I like it because he recorded the trilogy of The Lord of the Rings, and I think that he have to record The Hobbit too.

The two films will be recorded with 3D. I disagree with that, because I hate this 3D craze. There is no release dates for the movies have been given, so we have to wait.

It will be a great time to back in the Middle-Earth again, for all this people that love Tolkien's world. I think that it will be another blockbuster, as the Lord of the Rings.

In summary, I hope that the adventures of Bilbo and Gandalf surprise us, like the adventure of the destruction of the Ring.