That long-awaited Hobbit adaptation starts looking up!

According to Variety, Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens (the people who brought us the recent film adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkein’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy) have officially signed on to collaborate on The Hobbit and its sequel, both of which will be directed by Guillermo del Toro. Production is tentatively set to begin in late 2009, with the film releases planned for 2011 and 2012.

I think this is great news--del Toro can be a tremendously entertaining director, but with Jackson, Walsh, and Boyens's involvement, he'll have to get over his distressing tendency to turn all of his films in loving tributes to his own previous work.