Del Toro (Hellboy, The Orphanage) was supposed to direct The Hobbit a short time after Return of the King came out in theaters or on DVD, I can't remember which exactly. He dropped out because it was taking too long to get it through the different companies they were going through for financial help and then Jackson decided to pick it up after that. There were then a slew of troubles regarding filming location (New Zealand's acting guild or whatever wanted better rights or some such). It wasn't really Jackson's fault that it has been seven years, making a movie isn't really about going to a guy and saying "k this is the movie, this is the information, let's film".

Unless that movie is Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer.