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Guillermo Del Toro told attendees at a press conference that his film version of JRR Tolkein’s “The Hobbit” doesn’t have a start date. The film is on hold until MGM manages to fix its financial problems. There’s no time table on when that might happen, say the folks at Coming Soon.

“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.”

Del Toro also denied that the film would be shot in 3D.  It’s a possibility but there’s only been one discussion of using 3D and it’s not built into the film’s budget.

The director also brought up the possibility that MGM might share or sell off the rights to The Hobbit as an avenue for getting the film made.

The bottom line is the money isn’t available to start actual filming even though work on costumes, creatures and other technical aspects have begun.

“We have designed all the creatures,” he said, “We’ve designed the sets and the wardrobe. We have done animatics and planned battles sequences…. We are very, very prepared for when it is finally triggered.”

The effort to turn The Hobbit has been going on for years and has hit one roadblock after another. It looked like it was going to happen very soon, but now it’s all up in the air.