YOU'RE FIRED!! PETER JACKSON OFF THE HOBBIT PREQUEL.

The Director has a dispute with New Line Cinema, over profits from the Lord of the Rings trilogy worth over $100 million. Since, the studio needs to exercise its rights- to make the movie before they expire and Jackson won't commit until the case settles, the man was removed from the preproduction.

Here's where the story gets weird, New Line still wants Jackson to helm "an unnamed sequel" to The Hobbit, when the first is finished. Also, MGM claims to own the rights the Hobbit and are going ahead with their own version. MGM wants the Oscar winning director to take the lead on that project.