There’s been much speculation in recent weeks over the fate of the Peter Jackson/Phillipa Boyens/Fran Walsh-scripted adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” after the news that original director Guillermo del Toro would be too busy with his myriad projects (a “Frankenstein” re-imagining, H.P. Lovecraft’s “Mountains of Madness,” etc.) to continue on as director. About his “Frankenstein” piece, del Toro says:

From SciFi: “The greatest soulless monster of Frankenstein has always been Christopher Lee, because when he stares at you, there’s really nobody home. It’s literally one of the scariest moments I remember as a kid. I thought, “Oh, my God, this thing is not human.” And the opposite, the complete polar opposite, is Boris Karloff, who is more human than humans. So you will have both those vibes in the piece.”

With del Toro officially out, it seems that Brett Ratner will now be sitting in the director’s chair.

Ratner (the director of the “Rush Hour” series) is Hollywood’s “go-to” guy for taking over valuable franchises after his work on “Red Dragon” and “X-Men: The Last Stand,” but news that he’s taking over Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” franchise is bound to piss a lot of people (like myself!) off. His latest project before this, a reboot of the “Conan the Barbarian” franchise, appears to be on hold for now.

I thought “Red Dragon” was pretty straightforward and workmanlike, with no real visual flair or anything, but at least he got the ending of the book right. I love Michael Mann’s “Manhunter” (the first filmed version of Thomas Harris’ novel), but always wondered why he ditched the book’s last pages for Iron Butterfly’s “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” and William Peterson breaking through full-length glass windows.

As far as “X-Men” number three, I felt that most of the characters’ story arcs were rushed and the movie didn’t have the same feel as the first two. It was a disappointing wrap-up for the series, especially given that Bryan Singer’s “X2″ was so spectacular.

But what will Ratner do with “The Hobbit”?

Sources say that Ian McKellan and Andy Serkis are rumored to still be frontrunners to remain in their respective roles of  Gandalf and Gollum, but that Bilbo Baggins, the hobbit played by Ian Holm in the “LOTR” series, will need to be replaced because his advanced age does not match up with the prequel nature of the story.

Ratner has said that he wants to replace Holm with a multitude of actors kind of like Terry Gilliam did on “The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus.” Casting rumors continue with names such as Chris Tucker, Jackie Chan, and Shia LaBeouf currently in talks with New Line’s reps.

“I want to expand the reach of ‘The Hobbit.’ It’s a classic story for everybody and I want to reach as many people as possible, ” Ratner says. “There is a facet of Bilbo Baggins in all of us, and having a multi-ethnic cast will really bring that feeling to the forefront.”

I think this is a bad idea, but I’m willing to give it a chance. What do you think?

Well, I got lots of emails and tweets from people who were fooled by this April Fools joke. Some of you knew it was too ridiculous to be true. (Did the Chris Tucker/Jackie Chan/Shia LaBeouf thing finally throw you off?) Anyway, hope my little joke didn’t cause you too much heartache. Del Toro is still on the job, folks! Happy April Fools! /film has a list of some of the other April Fools jokes that were out there today.

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