Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz

More than 1900 people have signed an online petition demanding Peter Jackson be reinstated to film Lord of the Rings prequel The Hobbit after he was dumped by movie studio New Line Cinema earlier this week.

The petition demands Jackson be reinstated and says New Line's decision is "not fair to the loyal Rings fans around the world".

A second petition asks people to boycott all current and future New Line movie releases, including buying Lord of the Rings DVDs. It has been signed by 149 people.

Jackson sent an email to Rings fan site Onering.net on Tuesday saying he had been dumped from The Hobbit movie project and another Rings prequel.

He said he and partner Fran Walsh had planned to start designing the movies next year, once a legal row over profits from the first Lord of the Rings film, The Fellowship of the Ring, had been settled with New Line.

Jackson's letter said last week a top executive with Los Angeles-based New Line called him to say the studio was moving ahead on The Hobbit movie without Jackson because of time restraints on the movie's rights.

Fans are not happy with the decision, with 1900 people signing the petition to reinstate Jackson by 11am on Thursday.

And Rings actor Sir Ian McKellen, who played the wizard Gandalf in the trilogy, waded into the debate, calling the decision by New Line "sad".

"It's hard to imagine any other director matching his achievement in Tolkien country," McKellen said in a posting on Theonering.net site.

"We will have to await developments but being an optimist I am hoping that New Line, MGM and Wingnut can settle outstanding problems so that the long expected Hobbit is filmed sooner rather than later."

Petition signee Simon Jeffree said he wanted Peter Jackson to make the Hobbit, echoing similar sentiments by other Rings fans.

"Having Peter Jackson and the Weta team film the Hobbit will cap off one of the greatest stories ever told on the silver screen," Simon said. "Only they can do it succesfully."

Tags: Lord of The Rings, Newspaper Articles, Peter Jackson