As predicted, hoped, prayed, deamed, demanded by us here at STN, Mr Guillermo del Toro, has indeed signed on to direct The Hobbit and an original story between that novel and the Lord of The Rings. The films which are due to on in 2011 and 2012 will of course have Peter Jackson and his writing partner Fran Walsh producing.

As soon as Del Toro is done with Hellboy 2 he will jet off to live in New Zealand for four years and get started on the two epics. While scribes have yet to be announced do not be surprised if Jackson, Walsh and Del Toro put their hands to it.

Now what else could make this dream better? Ron Pearlman as Thorin Oakenshield? You heard it here first kids!