After a veritable mountain of delays because of MGM‘s financial woes, which led to another delay and caused director Guillermo del Toro to exit the project, The Hobbit finally started to see the light at the end of the Misty Mountains last October when The Lord of the Rings director, Peter Jackson officially signed on to take del Toro’s place and helm the project.

Now, New Zealand’s stuff.co.nz is reporting that Jackson was admitted to Wellington Hospital with acute stomach pains, and has undergone surgery for a perforated stomach ulcer, which will cause a slight delay to the commencement of filming on The Hobbit.

According to a statement from the production,

“Sir Peter is currently resting comfortably and his doctors expect him to make a full recovery. Sir Peter’s surgery is not expected to impact on his directing commitment to The Hobbit beyond a slight delay to the start of filming.”

According to WikiPedia:

A perforated ulcer, also known as a bleeding ulcer or a perforated peptic ulcer is a very serious condition where an untreated ulcer can burn through the wall of the stomach (or other areas of the gastrointestinal tract), allowing digestive juices and food to leech into the abdominal cavity. Treatment generally requires immediate surgery.

The 81 year old creator of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, author J.R.R. Tolkien had suffered from a perforated ulcer just before his death on September 2nd, 1973.

We wish Sir Peter Jackson our best for and full and speedy recovery!

The Hobbit: Part 1 is currently slated to hit theaters December 2012.

The Hobbit: Part 2 is currently slated to hit theaters December 2013.

The films star Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis, Richard Armitage, Cate Blanchette, Elijah Wood, Sylvester McCoy, Christopher Lee, Aidan Turner, Rob Kazinsky, Graham McTavish, John Callen, Ken Stott, Mikael Persbrandt, Ryan Gage, Jed Brophy, William Kircher and Stephen Hunter.