This from the NY Mag:
"After a report surfaced on the Lord of the Rings fansite TheOneRing.net speculating that District 9 director Neill Blomkamp might be taking over as the director of the LOTR prequel, The Hobbit, dozens of media outlets parroted the report, and began weighing his benefits and drawbacks as the keeper of the Baggins flame. But an insider at his agency, William Morris Endeavor, confirms to Vulture that not only is Blomkamp not doing the movie, no one from MGM/United Artists or Warner Bros. has even contacted them about his directing the film."
This sounds to me like someone somewhere said "Hey what about Neill Blomkamp for Director of The Hobbit?" And they ran with it. Bottom line here is, MGM has no money. So until they do 'The Hobbit' wont happen. I have also heard rumblings that Peter Jackson, behind closed doors, is saying that he really does not want to direct the film in the first place. Which stinks out right.
This should be his baby to take care of. The LOTR trilogy is what catapulted Jackson into fame, one would think he would want to take care of the franchise that put him on the map.
Blomkamp is currently working on Elysium, a Sci-Fi script of his own. Details regarding the script are locked down tighter then Wonder Woman's underwear but rumor is it all happens on another planet and not Middle Earth.