HOLLYWOOD director Guillermo del Toro said yesterday that production delays have forced him to quit the planned film version of JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit, a two-part prequel to New Zealand filmmaker Peter Jackson’s blockbuster trilogy Lord of the Rings.

DIRECTOR Peter Jackson has been told he will not be hired to direct a movie based on JRR Tolkien novel The Hobbit, despite the nearly $3 billion (€2.3bn) global box office success of his Lord of the Ring trilogy that picked up 17 Oscars.