Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema have worked out their differences, and the two will team up once again to bring the fantasy world of JRR Tolkien to the silver screen and make ridiculous amounts of money. Jackson (along with wife Fran Walsh) has signed on as executive producer to the big screen adaptation of The Hobbit. The deal is for two films that will be shot simultaneously starting in 2009 and released in 2010 and 2011 (assuming the world lasts that long) as a joint venture between New Line Cinema and MGM. However, it is not clear as to whether or not Jackson will direct either or both of the films.

In 2005, Jackson sued New Line over residuals from the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which grossed almost $3 billion worldwide. In the suit, Jackson claimed that his take of the profits had been undercut by as much as $100 million. However, the two parties have buried the hatchet, with the help of a few lawyers of course.

A representative said the dispute was resolved this week, but the studio did not reveal details of the pact. Earlier this year, it was reported that a judge had fined New Line for withholding information in the lawsuit.

“I’m very pleased that we’ve been able to put our differences behind us, so that we may begin a new chapter with our old friends at New Line,” Jackson said in a prepared statement. “We are delighted to continue our journey through Middle Earth.” [source]

I don’t know how many times I’ve seen Lord of The Rings at this point - probably an embarrassing amount, I’m sure. I’m pretty much a sucker for epic movies involving journeys of personal discovery, great battles, teams of erstwhile friends who must band together to triumph over a greater foe, and anything with swords and/or magic. I swear, if I wasn’t so busy with pop culture/bands/life of excess all the time I would still be rolling two 10-sided dice to determine my saving throw to see if my wizard was resistant to poison or whatever.

So I’m probably going to see Beowulf when it comes to theatres on November 16th. I’m probably going to be stoked, too. Even if it kinda sucks I’ll still secretly be excited.

Some dudes did a Podcast interview with some of the folks from the movie (John Malkovich and Robin Wright-Penn), and it’s on iTunes. For no charge. Did I click below? Yes. Yes I did.

DIRECT LINK TO THE FREE PODCAST

Did I subscribe? That’s another story… Okay, off to the Ren Faire! Huzzah!