Back in April of 2007 I wrote the following upon hearing Sam Raimi's name being thrown out there as a possibility to direct a movie based on The Hobbit:

In my opinion if it can't be Jackson, Raimi would be a good choice, but a better choice would be Pan's Labyrinth director Guillermo Del Toro.

Well guess what? According to Yahoo News (via Hollywood Reporter), it looks like none other than Guillermo del Toro is about to be named as the director for both of the planned two Hobbit films!

Peter Jackson, having made up with New Line will be an executive producer of the films but importantly will have approval over certain creative elements. While it's not known who will write the screenplays yet (as the strike is still going on), Del Toro and Jackson are expected to oversee the writing (if they don't do it themselves).

Each film will reportedly have a $150 million budge (very nice), and be slated for release in 2010 and 2011. As soon as the writer's strike ends, they will be fast-tracked.

Just imagine Pan's Labyrinth merged with the world of Tolkien - yeah, it's gonna be good.

More thoughts:

• Guillermo del Toro a Possibility for Director of The Hobbit
• Peter Jackson to Helm 2 Hobbit Films in 3D?
• Peter Jackson Coming Back to The Hobbit?