'The Hobbit' trilogy confirmed by Peter Jackson
Published Jul 30 2012, 17:12 BST | By Emma Dibdin
The Hobbit will become a film trilogy, it has been announced.Director Peter Jackson confirmed recent reports that a third film will be made in addition to the two that have already wrapped filming.
"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," Jackson wrote in a Facebook post.
"Recently Fran [Walsh], Phil [Boyens] 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'."
Jackson went on to explain that the third film would be based on material from the appendices of The Lord of the Rings, as well as The Hobbit.
"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," he added.
"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."
Filming has already concluded on The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again.
The third Hobbit instalment is expected to be released in summer 2014.
> 'The Hobbit': Andy Serkis returns as Gollum in two new pictures
> 'The Hobbit' Peter Jackosn unveils new Comic Con video blog - watch
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will be released on December 14. Watch the trailer below:
The only shame is that the Scouring of the Shire was the only essential part left out of the original films and that certainly won't be covered...Sure PJ will do a great job though.
July 31st 2012 at 11:56am
Isn't there a whole nother book of stories... The Silmarillion its full of materials added to The Hobbit and the appendices... there is plenty of material to fill another 10 hours of 'directors' cut releases... Watching the new trailer, i got the impression that the theme of this film will be 'how much pipe weed can we smoke...' there were an overwhelming number of pipes in the minute-and-a-half... they were telling me u might need to be stoned to 'get it'
July 31st 2012 at 5:19am
They don't have the rights to The Silmarillion.
July 31st 2012 at 10:29am
It's a difficult one this. One of the things that struck me reading Return of the King for the first time was that once the book finished there was still a few hundred pages to go - these are the aforementioned appendices and they hold a richer and deeper story. (Here be mild spoilers for those who have not read the books)
The Hobbit merely scratches the surface. I would expect the first two films to be the Hobbit, but the third may now comprise all the bits that happen simultaneously and leading up to the events in Lord of the Rings. They can also be mined for back story - such as Sauron's demise from the Last Alliance. How the Nazgul took refuge in Dol Guldur and Minas Morgul - how The war between Gondor and Mordor continued with the taking of Osgiliath, how some of the dwarves that travelled with Bilbo decided to take back Moria, How Gollum ventured out of the Misty Mountains and came to Mordor, was let go (or escaped) came across Shelob and eventually was caught by Aragorn in the Dead Marshes and subsequently imprisoned by the Elves of Mirkwood where he escaped and was lurking in Moria when the Company crossed his path. I'm not saying all this would be in the third film but there is certainly enough material. My only concern is that there is no real protagonist and the story itself would be all over the place and hobbits would feature very little so it would in itself not be called The Hobbit part 3. By taking a chapter title from Unfinished Tales - Hunt for the Ring could be an apt title. Sauron's goal is to regain the Ring, this is why the events happen the way they do and Gollum's story and Gondor's feature very heavily in that. There is also the chunk of Gandalf's story where he dissappeard in the book The Hobbit for a short time and Tolkien wrote that this was the White Council deciding what to do about Dol Guldur (which had become powerful). As Galadriel and Saruman are returning and Radagast is making an appearance then it's safe to say they are expanding on these events. Whatever they do, it will certainly be more of Middle-earhs story on screen and I can't help thinking that's a good thing when I analyse it.
July 31st 2012 at 2:33am(+1 like)
It's been confirmed for a long time now that they are going to show what happened to Gandalf when he left Bilbo and the dwarves at the edge of Mirkwood (White Council, Dol Guldur, Necromancer, etc...)
July 31st 2012 at 10:32am(+1 like)
I'm really in two minds about this. I can't help thinking they are really milking it. But hey. I have faith in Jackson, and if the bloke has more of a story to tell, let him tell it.
July 30th 2012 at 11:51pm
The first trilogy is a modern masterpiece, whats to suggest that this trilogy won't be as well? I don't think he's going to do a Lucas on the world :)
July 31st 2012 at 12:22pm(+1 like)
Milk, milk, milk, milk, milk, milk, milk.
July 30th 2012 at 11:29pm
Does a body good.
July 31st 2012 at 5:30pm