On his official website yesterday, Sir Ian McKellan, Lord of the Rings’ Gandalf spoke out about his feelings on the news that Peter Jackson will not direct The Hobbit. He says, “It's hard to imagine any other director matching his achievement in Tolkien country.” But he doesn’t say he won’t work for anyone else. I wonder what McKellan would think of The Hobbit directed by Sam Raimi?

That’s the latest Peter Jackson replacement rumor being circulated, this time by The One Ring. They claim the Spider-Man director has been approached to step in and run The Hobbit.

To me, this sounds more like a fanboy fantasy than the real thing. Raimi and Jackson have a lot in common really, having both started out in low-budget, cult-hit horror flick. Both also only relatively recently rocketed into the mainstream, both by taking on extremely high-profile, high-profit, heavy fanbase franchises. It’s too perfect.

Even if Raimi really has been approached, it’s hard to say if he’d take it. Sure, Spider-Man 3 is almost finished, but there’s always Spider-Man 4 to consider. You might think Raimi ought to be getting tired of Spidey by now, but word has it that the third film sets up a story which he might be keen to continue for a fourth movie. Why bother with The Hobbit? He has one high profile franchise already. Besdies, if Raimi does take it we’ll have to suffer through Bruce Campbell as… rumors that invariably follow Ted’s brother everywhere he goes. Bruce Campbell as Gandalf anyone?