Jackson's involvement in the making of a film version of The Hobbit has a long and chequered history. In November 2006, a letter from Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh stated that due to an ongoing legal dispute between Wingnut Films (Jackson's production company) and New Line Cinema, Jackson would not be directing the film. New Line Cinema's head Robert Shaye commented that Jackson "...will never make any movie with New Line Cinema again while I'm still working at the company...". This prompted an online call for a boycott of New Line Cinema, and by August 2007 Shaye was trying to repair his working relationship. On 18 December 2007, it was announced that Jackson and New Line Cinema had reached agreement to make two prequels, both based on The Hobbit, and to be released in 2012 and 2013 with Jackson as a writer and executive producer and Guillermo del Toro directing.
Jackson was set to produce a $128 million movie version of the science fiction video game series Halo to be developed and released by Universal Studios and 20th Century Fox. In October 2006, the film was postponed indefinitely when financial backers withdrew their support, although it was never officially cancelled. In June 2008, Jackson commented that, "With upcoming developments (Halo: Chronicles), I wouldn't know when to expect a movie, and I'm the producer." Instead, Jackson worked with Halo's planned director Neill Blomkamp on science fiction project District 9, which proved a box office hit and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture.
In 2006, Jackson also won the rights to a film adaptation of the fantasy novel series Temeraire, a novel written by Naomi Novik about dragons being used in combat in the Napoleonic Wars. However, as of 24 February 2016, Novik confirmed during a Reddit AMA that the rights reverted to her, and that there are no current plans for any adaptations.
Jackson was set to make games with Microsoft Game Studios, a partnership announced on 27 September 2006, at X06. Specifically, Jackson and Microsoft were teaming together to form a new studio called Wingnut Interactive. In collaboration with Bungie, he was to co-write, co-design and co-produce a new game taking place in the Halo universe – tentatively called Halo: Chronicles. On 27 July 2009, in an interview about his new movie (as producer) District 9, he announced that Halo: Chronicles had been cancelled, while Microsoft confirmed that the game is "on hold". Jackson's game studio Wingnut Interactive is now at work on original intellectual property. As of September 2020, there's no games released nor developed by Wingnut Interactive.
In 2006, Jackson received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. His Golden Plate was presented by Awards Council member Steven Spielberg.