After rocky courtroom battles and questions regarding whether or not these films would actually get made, The Hobbit seems to be coming along nicely, and rather quickly. Peter Jackson (never heard of him) recently admitted during a Lovely Bones press junket (Via In the News) that the script for the first film has been turned in to the studio and has been receiving generally positive remarks.

Of course the studios like it. The Lord of the Rings trilogy made amounts of money that can only be measured in “shit-tons,” why would any studio even consider questioning Jackson’s judgement? Pete and his crack team of writers, comprised of his wife Fran Walsh, Hobbit helmer Guillermo del Toro, and frequent collaborator Philippa Boyens, not only topped off the first script, but have already powered through half of the follow up.

Now that at least one script is done, we’ll be keeping our ear to the ground here at Cinemablend listening for the pitter patter of little casting director feet. We should start to see some more solid rumors (oxymoron?) in the very near future.