Fans can be forgiven their confusion about the status of "The Hobbit" this year.  Even the filmmakers involved seemed unsure about what was happening.  Guillermo Del Toro spent several years attached to the film, working on designs, breaking the script with Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, the brain trust behind the "Lord Of The Rings" adaptation.  When Guillermo finally left the film, heartbroken, there was speculation both public and private that the film was dead, and that MGM's slow-motion bankruptcy death rattle would leave this film in the same awkward legal limbo as James Bond.  When there's real money on the table, though, do not doubt the fortitude and determination of the lawyers to figure out a way to make things work, and by the time all of the contracts had been untangled, Peter Jackson had finally stepped up and announced that he would direct the return to Middle-Earth himself, something that finally seems to have this film on the right track and within reach of that elusive start date.

- Drew McWeeny