It looks like The Hobbit is going to come to life thanks to director Guillermo del Toro and executive producer Peter Jackson.

New Line Cinema announced on Thursday that the director of Pan’s Labyrinth and the upcoming Hellboy II: The Golden Army will direct the film and its sequel. These movies are all tied into the Lord of the Rings trilogy, so it’s back to New Zealand for four years to recreate Middle-Earth, where the films will be shot back-to-back.

Del Toro seems very eager and “blessed to become a part of the filmmaking community that Peter, Fran and their extraordinary team of collaborators have created in New Zealand,” according to the Associated Press. He added, “Contributing to the ‘Lord of the Rings’ legacy is an absolute dream come true.”

So the Lord of the Rings somehow managed to find it’s way back into mainstream media. There are going to be a lot of happy nerds all over the world again.

thumbnail courtesy: IMDb