A few months ago, Viggo Mortensen told MTV that he could see his "Lord of the Rings" character, Aragorn, popping up in a film meant to bridge the stories between "The Hobbit" and the "Rings" trilogy. The only problem there is that the bridge chapter is looking increasingly unlikely.

Then again, maybe not. "Hobbit" director Guillermo del Toro may have ruled out the possibility of directing the bridge movie, but that doesn't mean someone else -- even Peter Jackson himself -- can't step in to do it. That's what I find most interesting about Mortensen's words in a recent interview with ComingSoon. It sounds like he's clearer on the franchise plans since we last spoke from him, and still that talk of a bridge film persists.... Read more...

Yesterday, we posted some of Eric Ditzian's interview with Sir Ian McKellen, who plays the wizard Gandalf in the "Lord of the Rings" and upcoming "Hobbit" movies. In one of the more compelling bits, the actor revealed that the scripts for the two films with feature plotlines culled from other J.R.R. Tolkien sources.

McKellen wouldn't elaborate any further than that, but a recent interview Guillermo del Toro gave to TotalFilm may shed some additional light on what the Gandalf actor was referring to. "We are respecting the structure established by Professor Tolkien because the order of the adventures in 'The Hobbit' is well known to generations and generations of kids," the director said. "You don’t want to be moving stuff like that." So what's new? Read more...

Ah, "The Hobbit." At long last, movie-goers will once again have a chance to be whisked away to the real-life Middle-earth that Peter Jackson created for his "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Only this time that vision will be guided by director Guillermo del Toro. News has been relatively light on the project, which is understandable considering that it's still a few years off.

We fans will still take any update we can get, right? The latest comes from no less a personage than Sir Ian McKellen, aka Gandalf the Grey, speaking in an interview with Empire. The actor knows the score with "The Hobbit," and he had an update on where the powers-that-be are in the process of pulling the adaptation together. Read more...

There's a cool happening coming up at Radio City Music Hall this week for you "Lord of the Rings" fans. This Friday and Saturday, October 9 and 10, the 21st Century Symphony Orchestra, The Collegiate Chorale and Brooklyn Youth Chorus (conducted by Ludwig Wicki) will perform Howard Shore's score to "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" live with the film. Tickets are still available, so head over to the Radio City Music Hall website and place your order now before it's too late!

Last night, MTV's Kurt Loder sat down with "The Lord of the Rings" composer Howard Shore and Pippin the Hobbit actor Billy Boyd at The Paley Center for Media. Kurt was there to moderate a panel called Shore on the Score: The Music of "The Lord of the Rings," which featured Shore, Boyd and The Music of the Lord of the Rings Films author Doug Adams.

The event kicked off a week long "Lord of the Rings" celebration which will culminate with live performances of the "Fellowship of the Ring" score at Radio City Music Hall on October 9 and 10. Read more...

Peter Jackson said it might take awhile to get support for converting "The Lord of the Rings" into 3D, though that's exactly what he wants to do. Now we learn that Blu-ray adopting "Rings" fans have a wait of their own in store, for hi-def versions of Jackson's extended editions. Tolkien fans should be getting an HD "Lord of the Rings" trilogy in time for Christmas this year, but the word from Jackson is that extended edition cuts of the three films won't be out on Blu-ray for at least another year.

Jackson has been talking to the studio about doing some new extras for the Blu-ray extended editions, according to Collider, but those discs will be in a separate release, not likely to appear until a year after the November 3 launch for the theatrical editions. Jackson didn't reveal what new material might be included, but it sounds like extended Blu-ray editions are in the cards. As if there was ever any doubt. Read more...

History was made on Friday when Ryan Reynolds officially became the first actor to star as both a Marvel and DC Comics character. Fresh off of his spin-off spinning turn as Deadpool in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," Reynolds is now getting to headline a “Green Lantern” film.

The "Van Wilder" star is just one of many actors who have made the smart –- and profitable –- choice to double-dip in the biggest and the best film franchises. Here is a look at a few of Hollywood's other famous double-dippers. Read more...

What’s better than a second breakfast? For fans of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth legendarium, it’s the thought of two separate “Hobbit” films, the first of which comes our way in 2011.

But what could be even better still than two “Hobbit” films? How about just one? Make that one movie in two parts, director Guillermo del Toro insisted in an exclusive interview with MTV News, refusing, like Tolkien himself before him, to fractionalize his overall story into component parts.

“The reality is that we stopped talking the first movie and second movie, and we just started taking about the movie - the two episodes, or two parts, as if they were a single piece of narrative,” he said of scriptwriting meetings between “Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson, his filmmaking team of Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, and del Toro himself. Read more...

Sure, Guillermo del Toro might want a lot of the original "Lord of the Rings" cast back for "The Hobbit" -- but it doesn't mean he'll get them all. At least one Steward of Gondor says he hasn't been asked.

"They haven't consulted me," said John Noble, who played Denethor. "I know Ian McKellan is coming back, and Andy Serkis will be -- he's very much associated with it, and he's a terrific artist. Ian [Holm] is not a young man, so I don't know what they'll do with that. But I don't think they'll have Denethor back."

The Denethor character -- Faramir and Boromir's father -- doesn't appear in the book version of "The Hobbit", but del Toro plans to make a second, connective film that would take place between "The Hobbit" and "Fellowship of the Ring." And if the character of Arargorn returns for that -- Viggo, we're looking at you -- then there's room for what happened to Gondor. Read more...