They were part of a team with Jackson on the LOTR films, i think they were even responsible for one directing unit.

If jackon cant do it, then id say let the girls have a go! Its a smaller story without the huge action sequences, so why not!

But that will be hugely expensive and will any other studio want to invest?

Mendes' Bond 23 is delayed he has nothing other than a potential Oz film and if he really wanted the Hobbit, he could definitely do it. That's a big if though.

Raimi, he's doing world of Warcraft almost seemingly because he couldn't do the hobbit. Now that it's open, would he drop what he's doing to direct it, if it were offered? Yes, i could see him doing that.

Blomkampp (sic), yes he doesn't like others toys, but it's Jackson and they are bff. If Blomkampp would drop a project for anyone out there, it would only be Peter Jackson. It could be a possibility, but's he rumored to have a new secret project shooting in the fall.

Wright, again he could, but might be too busy with the sched. Presumably, they'll shift the timetable only a few months and instead of shooting The Hobbit, this fall, they'll want to shoot in in early 2011 like in Feb or March at the latest.

Marshall, he's an example of a guy that could easily make the shortlist, again, he's always on them, Predators, Doom, etc. But Centurion just further showed he should just be an action director.He has zero nuance for much humanity. He's a good b-movie, action director, the end, nothing more (and that's only if u like those types of movies).

The best suggestion in this entire thread so far is Alfonso Cuaron and the only reason we didn't pick him is because he is readying his 3D sci-fi pick Gravity with Robert Downey Jr. that RDJ himself said would shoot this summer.

However, del Toro, who runs a company with him (Cha, Cha,Cha) would certainly vouch for him in a heartbeat and yes, he's more than capable. Dare i say he's the most perfect pick here. However, i think he would only take it if Gravity funding didn't come through.

Any director who takes this project may not be as big as many thinks because a knowledgeable other filmmaker will know MGM's woes are not over and if they sign on board to this, they too could be wasting years of their lives all for naught (uprooting your life to NZ, living their and working on these 2 films for what could be 3-4 years depending if they bump back the schedule).

A younger director might think, fuck it, it's worth that risk.

The other concession Jackson, New Line et al might have to make: Hiring two separate directors to make each film.

But even if they hire a new director tmw, that doesn't magically fix up MGM's issues and they still might not be able to give a green light anytime soon.

There's a lot of issues in the mix here and it's not just, "oh, del toro was sick of waiting."

Sir Peter Jackson says he may step in

i like the pick of Alex Proyas even though i think he's terrible, but i think the new round of shortlisted directors will definitely be a disappointing and underwhelming batch compared to del Toro.

They will likely be all new, young and somewhat unproven or you will get genre ppl like Proyas and Marshall that aren't very expensive, but aren't very good either.

You need a pick who can do humanity, humor and soul. That's what LOTR had above all the swordplay. It was a film about friendship and deep-seated bonds across the board. Multiple friends that would die for one another. There's something special in that alludes most genre-ists work.

It'll have to be someone whose comfortable with living in New Zealand for an extremely long production schedule, which to me means someone who is from that area.

Glancing through the list of Australia/NZ directors on Wikipedia, I find the following I could see directing this:
Andrew Niccol, Jane Campion, Andrew Adamson, Niki Caro, Roger Donaldson, Geoff Murphy, Christian Rivers, Vincent Ward, Lee Tamahori, Gillian Armstrong, Peter Weir, Alex Proyas, Phillip Noyce, Chris Noonan, James McTeigue, Baz Luhrmann, Ray Lawrence, P. J. Hoganm, Gregor Jordan, Scott Hicks, Stephan Elliott, Rolf de Heer, Peter Duncan, and Andrew Dominik

But yes, great list otherwise. Still think Jackson, if anyone, FTW – amazing what the prospect of a few billion in BO returns can do to calm troubled waters.