TheOneRing.net (http://www.theonering.net) reports that the "Lord of the Rings" team of Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens have started the writing process with co-writer/director Guillermo Del Toro for "The Hobbit" and its sequel, scheduled to be released in Christmas of 2011 and 2012 respectively.

At the earliest, shooting will take place in the fall of 2009. It is expected that Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis and Viggo Mortensen will reprise their roles from the LOTR trilogy. "The Hobbit" is the prequel to the LOTR trilogy and was also written by J.R.R. Tolkien.