A loose-lipped Peter Jackson held court with journalists at Comic-Con last weekend, providing updates on the positive wealth of projects in which he is involved; from The Hobbit to Tintin, to the director’s own next feature , The Lovely Bones.

Part of Jackson’s official duties at the event included attending the premiere of District 9, the Neil Blomkamp-helmed action flick which he produced. Early word on the movie appears positive, with admiring glances in particular being targeted at the impressive amount of bang Blomkamp has got from his thirty million bucks budget.

However, folks were eager to hear about the big-name productions currently on the Jackson books, and in regard to this they were not to be disappointed. For starters, Jackson revealed work is drawing to a close on the first draft of the script for the opening episode of the planned deuce of movies based upon The Hobbit; “We’re about three weeks away from turning over the first draft of the script to the studio”. As well as LOTR screenwriters Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh, Jackson has also been working with chosen Hobbit director Guillermo Del Toro in the creation of this initial draft.

Jackson revealed that with budget and schedule still to be agreed upon, there had been no decisions on casting as yet. But he did talk about the potential practical challenges posed by the numerous dwarf members of the movie’s large character roster; “We have 13 dwarves to cast – it’s going to be a lot of fun. Though there’s 13 poor guys who are going to be walking around the mountains in summer wearing heavy costumes, sweating under their prosthetic make-up. It’s going to be tough. And logistically tough – imagine getting those guys through wardrobe at the beginning of each day and then shooting… They’ll be passing out from heat. It’s going to be tricky.”

Regards the upcoming Tintin trilogy, Jackson revealed that collaborator Steven Spielberg has now completed his first cut of opening instalment The Secret of the Unicorn, and that the Kiwi director will be viewing it on his return to New Zealand. Jackson is still to decide on which book he is going to adapt for his second entry in the series, noting that “at the moment we’re keeping our options open, but I am very partial to The Seven Crystal Balls/ Prisoners of The Sun”. Whichever story he ultimately selects, production is scheduled for the latter part of 2010.

Jackson talked about a possible adaptation of the Temeraire books, which see the Napoleonic Wars being played out with added dragons. “I’ve got some conceptual art that we’ve been working on and now am trying to figure out the best thing to do with that story.” However Jackson suggested the most likely destination for the property might be the small-screen, remarking that “I’m wondering whether it should be some form of mini-series, because it’s six books and I really don’t like the idea of doing the first one as a big-budget movie and it not doing well enough at the box-office to make all the others. The six books make such a compelling series that I think a mini-series might be the way to go.”

As well as touching upon the long-gestating Dambusters remake, noting that it may well be in 3D when it finally surfaces (“I think a World War II bombing raid in 3-D would be neat”), Jackson also treated Comic-Con attendees to four-and-a-half minutes of his adaptation of Alice Seabold’s novel The Lovely Bones. Set in 70s Pennsylvania, the movie details the aftermath of a child’s murder, with young Susie Salmon (played by Atonement’s Saiorse Ronan) narrating from beyond the grave. Mark Wahlberg stars as the vengeful father, while Stanley Tucci plays the killer. A trailer is released on 6 August.

Sources: Empire, Collider