Coming Soon writes: "Speaking moments ago at a press conference for his latest production, Splice, Guillermo del Toro responded to questions about the state of The Hobbit, saying that the film does not have a start date, nor will it until MGM sorts out its financial troubles.
"It's not greenlit," said del Toro, 'That's categorical... We've been caught in a very tangled negotiation... There cannot be any start dates until the MGM situation gets resolved. They do hold a considerable portion of the rights.'"