It was a rights negotiation that kept tripping them up, as MGM held the Hobbit rights. Eventually they came to an agreement to combine MGM’s rights with the Zaentz rights New Line represented for the Hobbit project. But by then Del Toro decided to move on, and Jackson was told that unless he took over and started shooting immediately, the whole thing would be pulled, and given the painful negotiations between New Line and MGM, it would be unlikely to be revived.