A trend in popular film is to make two movies out of a book rather than one, especially if it’s the last film in a series. (Think Twilight, Harry Potter, etc.) This makes more money for the studio, of course, and fans don’t seem to mind.
The final film in the Lord Of The Rings trilogy is probably what made this seem like a good idea. That movie ran so long and had so many endings it felt like two.
Now, it seems the same film makers who made the LOTR trilogy are considering turning a single book into not just two, but three films. Director Peter Jackson is considering extending The Hobbit to trilogy length. Keep in mind that it’s just one book and intended for children at that, but Jackson says he’s planning to incorporate some supporting material that author J R R Tolkien wrote later.
The original plan was to have the first half of The Hobbit for a 2012 release around Christmas and the second half for Christmas in 2013. The new plan would proceed with the 2012 release, but Jackson would reassemble the cast to shoot some additional scenes early next year for the second and third films.
If you’ve read the book, you know it basically involves a group of characters that take a journey and ultimately return home. In fact, “There And Back Again” is the book’s subtitle. I could see making one film about the “there” portion of the book and a second about the “back again,” but splitting the second half in two seems rather excessive.
Wow, and I thought it was silly enough to have two films, but a trilogy? Seriously, this is obviously just a money-making ploy. _The Hobbit_ just isn’t an Epic tale like _LOTR_. I read it when I was five for Pete’s sake. It’s a modest story. It’s a setup for something epic, to be sure, but the story itself is really quite tight. “Tight” isn’t the word that comes to mind to describe what Jackson is thinking of doing with it.
It is no longer a rumor. There will be a trilogy.
Director Peter Jackson wrote:
“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.”
There is more here:
http://www.slashfilm.com/hobbit-film-confirmed-domain-registrations-reveal-potential-titles/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+slashfilm+%28%2FFilm%29