Josh Hylton writes for Bleeding Cool

I can hear the cries of joy now. It's the one thing fans of the Lord of the Rings trilogy want to hear more than anything else. Peter Jackson expressed his interest in doing it over 15 years ago and after many hurdles, it finally appears The Hobbit will begin shooting. Huzzah!

TheOneRing.net, a fan site of JRR Tolkien, just announced that principal photography for the film will begin on March 21, 2011, just over a month away. Despite not being a big fan of The Lord of the Rings (I appreciate their craft, they're just not my thing), even I'm excited for this. Plans are to go the way of Harry Potter and Twilight and break the movie into two parts so they won't have to, as Jackson said, "cram everything into one movie," which is really just code for "we want more money."

If all goes according to schedule, you can expect to see the first film in theaters by the end of next year.