Well, this is good news:

Guillermo del Toro is directing “The Hobbit” and its sequel, New Line Cinema said. The 43-year-old filmmaker will move to New Zealand for four years to make the films back-to-back with executive producer Peter Jackson.

Del Toro wrote and directed “Pan’s Labyrinth,” which earned six Oscar nominations in 2006 and won three awards. He is also the director of the upcoming sequel “Hellboy II: The Golden Army,” whose monsters bear the unmistakable, surreal vision of the Mexican-born filmmaker.

I loved Pan’s Labyrinth.