The 8-month search is over!

Peter Jackson and renowned director Guillermo del Toro have been on the hunt for writers to bring the classic Lord of the Rings prequel tale The Hobbit to life for film.

Well, they've decided to hire themselves plus LOTR movie writers Frank Walsh and Philippa Boyens.

The Hollywood Reporter gives the three reasons why the filmmakers made the choice they did:

#1 Jackson and del Toro saw their schedules open up.

#2 During the general discussions about the films, they realized how much affection they had for the material.

#3 They also realized that in order to make the targeted release dates, the process required people intimate with Tolkien's world of Middle Earth. Jackson, Walsh and Boyens all won Oscars for their phenomenal work on LOTR.

The Hobbit and its sequel will be shot simultaneously starting in late-2009. The first Hobbit movie is expected to hit theaters in 2011 and its sequel the following year.

Are you excited about the LOTR prequels?

[Image via WENN.]

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Daniel Radcliffe isn't the only Harry Potter star to strip down for a role.

Rupert Grint, the red head that plays Ron Weasley, has taken part in an interesting indie film.

The flick, titled Cherry Bomb, is said to hit theaters in January 2009.

The ginger is trying to separate himself from his wholesome image by partaking in a sex scene for the new film with his co-star Kimberly Nixon.

As for the reason why he took the part, Rupert says, "I really loved the script and having done Harry Potter, I wanted to do something different. It was quite a challenge."

The film centers around a love triangle between the main characters, Rupert, Nixon, and another guy.

Nixon is a bit disturbed and makes the two guys do some "terrible things" for her, with someone dying at the end.

The film was shot in Belfast and Rupert had been spotted partying often with his co-stars and friends.

Now when is Emma Watson going to film a nude scene?????

[Image via WENN.]

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The Prince of Scientology is trying real hard to get us to like him again!

Tom Cruise has just attached himself to the comic book movie Sleeper. The film is about an operative whose fusion with an alien artifact makes him impervious to pain. An intelligence agency places him undercover in a villainous organization and he falls for Miss Misery, a member of the group.

Hmm…fusion with an alien.

Art imitating life????

We bet Cruise thinks he can pull a Robert Downey Jr. by doing a comic book adventure movie.

Are you guys into this?

We aren't!

[Image via Mavrix Online.]

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It's always about money!

Judging from the early buzz, the Warner Brothers 'damaged superheroes' movie Watchmen, scheduled to hit the big screen in March of 2009, will probably hit it big in the box office.

Well, Warner Brothers was not the original 'home' of Watchmen — it was Fox, or so the rival studio claims. If the movie's going to make a lot of money, Fox wants to make sure they'll get some of it!

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Fox has sued Warners for copyright infringement and interference with its contract rights under a 1991 agreement between Fox and Watchmen producers.

However, Warner claims that Fox gave up all its rights to the movie in a 1994 agreement.

Hollywood lawyers must live for these types of showdowns.

May the best studio win.

Just hope it doesn't get in the way of the release date!

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Madonna's husband is getting rave reviews for his new film, RockNRolla.

Hopefully this should make things more "pleasant" in the Ritchie household!

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Robert Downey Junior didn't hold back when it came to the subject of The Dark Knight in a recent interview.

After telling the interviewer that Iron Man 2 will be a cool, fun movie, he let it rip when they touched on the topic of Batman.

He says:

"My whole thing is that that I saw 'The Dark Knight'. I feel like I'm dumb because I feel like I don't get how many things that are so smart. It's like a Ferrari engine of storytelling and script writing and I'm like, 'That's not my idea of what I want to see in a movie.' I loved 'The Prestige' but didn't understand 'The Dark Knight'. Didn't get it, still can't tell you what happened in the movie, what happened to the character and in the end they need him to be a bad guy. I'm like, 'I get it. This is so high brow and so f–king smart, I clearly need a college education to understand this movie.' You know what? F-ck DC comics. That's all I have to say and that's where I'm really coming from."

Guess the folks at DC won't be partnering with RDJ anytime soon!

Downey went on to say, "You know, you're never too old to burn your bridges because I believe I have offended everyone. I think I've got a couple more. 'I'll burn that bridge when I come to it' is my favourite phrase I've ever coined."

His honesty is, um, refreshing!

[Image via WENN.]

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Michael Phelps isn't only kicking asses in the pool.

It looks like Golden Boy is rocking the movie business too!

According to new reports, Phelps' quest for his record-tying 7th gold medal on Friday probably kept people home, glued to their TVs and NOT in the movie theater!

Early estimates show that biz was pretty shitty at the movies on Friday.

The expected #1 movie of the weekend, Tropic Thunder, only pulled in $8.25 million. The movie is expected to make less money this weekend than Pineapple Express did last weekend, and Tropic Thunder has some HUGE superstars in it!

Coming in second on Friday was the animated Clone Wars, which made $6.65 million.

Olympics are definitely edging out other TV and movies for us these days.

We can't wait to see if Phelps will win an 8th gold medal!

[Image via Pacific Coast News.]

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What?

According to Variety, fagulous actor Mike Myers has been cast in Quentin Tarantino's World War II picture, Inglorious Bastards.

Myers will play British Gen. Ed Fenech, a military mastermind who takes part in hatching a plot to wipe out Nazi leaders.

We never thought we'd see Brad Pitt and Mike Myers in the same movie ever!

[Image via WENN.]

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Could they be right?

Fox News claims that the real reason Warner Bros. pushed the new Harry Potter movie's release date from November 2008 to July 2009 is star Daniel Radcliffe's appearance in the Broadway production of Equus.

The Harry Potter lead will be right in the middle of his sensational, highly publicized run in the play — naked and having sex on stage!

That's supposedly not the image Warner Bros. wants associated with bespectacled Harry, who remains 'chaste and virginal'.

But, it's not like this is something 'new' for the film studio to deal with.

The Potter actor has already been nude and sexed it up on the London stage!

We think it's all about money!

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