It just came out that The Hobbit will be a trilogy instead of two movies! Written by PJ on facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/notes/peter-ja ... 4596546558

"It is only at the end of a shoot that you finally get the chance to sit down and have a look at the film you have made. Recently Fran, Phil and I did just this when we watched for the first time an early cut of the first movie - and a large chunk of the second. We were really pleased with the way the story was coming together, in particular, the strength of the characters and the cast who have brought them to life. All of which gave rise to a simple question: do we take this chance to tell more of the tale? And the answer from our perspective as the filmmakers, and as fans, was an unreserved ‘yes.'



We know how much of the story of Bilbo Baggins, the Wizard Gandalf, the Dwarves of Erebor, the rise of the Necromancer, and the Battle of Dol Guldur will remain untold if we do not take this chance. The richness of the story of The Hobbit, as well as some of the related material in the appendices of The Lord of the Rings, allows us to tell the full story of the adventures of Bilbo Baggins and the part he played in the sometimes dangerous, but at all times exciting, history of Middle-earth.



So, without further ado and on behalf of New Line Cinema, Warner Bros. Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Wingnut Films, and the entire cast and crew of “The Hobbit” films, I’d like to announce that two films will become three.



It has been an unexpected journey indeed, and in the words of Professor Tolkien himself, "a tale that grew in the telling."



Cheers,



Peter J"

_________________
~ From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king. ~

I had to check to make sure it wasn't April Fools Day. And I'm still not sure I would have believed it if there hadn't been so many rumors beforehand. Well, well... three movies! I hope they know what they're doing. It seems kind of hard to turn around and make two movies into three without sacrificing the storytelling, especially now that they've already completed filming! But I like how he announced it on Facebook, speaking directly to the fans. It gets the corporate stink off it, though I've no doubt the bigwigs of MGM or whomever it is are loving milking the Hobbit for all its worth.
Still, I don't suppose PJ would have taken his chance to at a third movie if he didn't have something in mind. And it's more Middle-earth! I guess you can't complain about that.

_________________

I think PJ knows what he is doing, though I wonder how they will do this... Now it seems that the first film will come December 14 anyway, but wouldn't they have to change pretty much in the script? The movie should for example end earlier in the story, unless they have other things in mind. I just wonder if they still can be done with the first movie in time... Well well, that will be a surprise, I guess.

_________________
~ From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king. ~

I share the same doubts as you, Andúril. I wonder when they decided to make it a trilogy. I mean a decision like this isn't made just overnight so they must have planned it for a while when they were still filming.

I can't figure out what I think of it. The book is so short and it could never have justified a trilogy had it not been for LotR and the huge success they had. I'm really, really, extremely excited for the movie I only hope that they don't spoil it by stretching the plot thin and adding all kinds of love stories with elven princesses and dwarves *coughcough* who have no relation to the original story.

_________________
>>Be the change you wish to see in the world<<



Banner credit: Shadowcat & Nurrantiel Mashiara

Apparently they're going to bring in some material from the LotR appendices, so I guess they will include things that isn't in the book. Also, if I'm not wrong, I recall that there (a while ago, probably before the rumors about three movies began) were thoughts about adding some of the time between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. To make a bridge, so to speak. But it seemed that they rejected that idea...
Well I guess we'll see how it is when the movies are done. If they didn't have enough good material, the probably wouldn't decide to do a third movie... I hope

Anyway, like Taurquende said: More Middle-earth ^^

_________________
~ From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king. ~

I'm still not sure how I feel about this. I was fine with the two movies because of the addition of the White Council, so still staying true to Tolkien while expanding the story. So I guess if they're taking more appendicies, perhaps adding in the span between the two, searching for Gollum, the rise of Sauron, Aragorn growing up in Rivendell (which would be fascinating).....it could turn out alright. I trust PJ, I just hope the studios don't twist his genius with the projects.

_________________
going on a journey through my old claims

And also when LotR was made they hadn't established the precedent of splitting one book into two movies yet, like they did with Harry Potter, Twilight, and now with the Hunger Games. I was thinking that if LotR was made today, it'd probably be six films, at least!

To me, it did feel like they'd previously abandoned the idea of a bridge film in order to split the Hobbit, and now their going to make the bridge film anyway. I think I'm beginning to sort of see how this would work, with the first film being the finding of the Ring and the journey to Laketown, the second being mostly the destruction Smaug and the Battle of Five Armies, and the third being the bridge film with the Siege of Dol Guldor and the exile of the Necromancer only to cause Sauron's rise in Mordor. I'm just a little scared, as I always have been, of the idea of adapting the appendices without the guide of Tolkien's narrative. It's inevitably going to be up for interpretation and therefore can't be absolutely pure to Tolkien's vision, but then LotR wasn't always dead-faithful to the books, and there's no reason to think the Hobbit will be or even should be.

_________________

I say bring on the trilogy! Peter Jackson is a HUGE Tolkien fan himself & did not let me down at all with the LOTR & do not think he will fail on this one either.

_________________
Cold be heart hand and bone cold be travellers far from home
They do not see what lies ahead when sun has faded and moon is dead

I have doubts, the book is so tiny...but after seeing the first movie I will tell you if I still am afraid of trilogy

But serious, the book is much smaller than LotR. I wonder what PJ will push into it.

_________________




sig set by skitty banner by nurr

SQUEEEEE! so happy! I have faith in PJ, whatever he intends to do I'm sure I'll love it, hell he made me fall in love with LOTR and Middle Earth, so bring on the trilogy!

_________________

_________________


Want a banner? Click here!

I seriously do not get how you can make such a tiny book into 3 films.
Oh yes... you add in ridiculous elf/dwarf love stories, and the elf happens to be some character not in any of Tolkien's works... and guess what, Legolas is back for a big role! Awesome! (that was sarcasm, of course)

Yeah... I'm not as happy about there being 3 films as everyone else.

At first I was SO excited about the Hobbit being made into a movie. But with all this stupid stuff PJ is adding in (and who knows what else he's done to it without letting it be known!) I'm thinking it might not be as good as I'm hoping.

Of course... maybe my expectations are too high... I mean, you can't possibly expect someone to make a book into a film and not totally screw it up, can you?

I'm not saying I want him to make it EXACTLY like the book, word for word, of course... but is it really that hard to refrain from adding in all this junk?!

^ You're definitely not the only one, Feanor! What I read when browsing the movie-blogs for news is mostly grumbling that the new Hobbit film doesn't even have a script or a budget yet, and an overtone that says "PJ, are you INSANE?!??"



True! We should all wait and see the first movie before we start freaking out... but what's the fun in that? I do think people are going to be changing their tune a little after the first movie comes out, because like I said before, I don't think PJ would be making the third movie if he didn't have something in mind, and we'll probably have a better idea of what his vision is after we see the first film.

_________________

I changed my mind.. or maybe not changed, but after the 'initial shock' following the announcement I'm now very excited for the three movies!! We're going back to Middle-earth three more times!!!!

_________________
>>Be the change you wish to see in the world<<



Banner credit: Shadowcat & Nurrantiel Mashiara

Well, I for one would never say that material from the Appendices is "junk." It's what makes Middle Earth such a believable place, after all. Sure, it's not in The Hobbit, but I think if PJ didn't make references to all the things Tolkien wrote about that were happening during this span of time, then people would just go and complain about that.

See, what I think is weird is that a lot of the same people that complain about Tom Bombadil being left out (and other similar "left out" complaints) are the people that are mad about three movies (which is essentially synonymous with "inclusion of more details," so these people actually make no sense).

Personally, I'm very excited about the announcement. I remember when the Doctor Who fans threw a fit about Matt Smith being cast (before they ever saw him act or anything) and then it turned out that most everyone completely adored him. Let's just wait and see, people. Complain after you see the movies. Declare your hate then. Fine. But you can't say that it's going to be The Worst Film Ever just from reading one short announcement.

_________________

- married fingon fingolfinion 6/4/13 -
~art credit~

No, no, no, I'm not saying that the material in the appendices is junk!
I'm saying there's not THAT much of it, so PJ will probably be making a lot of stuff up.