Three films to rule them all: "The Hobbit" is officially a trilogy

     Sigh.
     Well I suppose once serious negotiations started that this news was probably inevitable, but Peter Jackson and company have officially announced that The Hobbit will now be a trilogy.  I thought about paraphrasing the actual announcement but upon further reflection I thought that Middle Earth's biggest ambassador summed it up best:



"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"Peter J"

     Although I still have some concerns about this decision (I mean let's be real here this action intentionally or not will maximize profits) I only recently discovered that the entire Hobbit shoot*, took only ten days less than the ENTIRE shoot for all three Lord of the Rings films.  That tells me that Jackson and company filmed a hell of a lot of material not directly depicted in "The Hobbit" but only alluded to in the novel or described in The Lord of the Rings appendices.  As such, it would probably be impossible to cram all that material into just two films.  To do so, at least as Peter Jackson implies from the above statement, means that a massive chunk of what was filmed would be completely trashed.  In light of this...well I guess more Middle Earth is always a good thing.
     This decision raises an interesting question when it comes to subtitles however.  Obviously the first film, An Unexpected Journey, is set in stone, but will the second film still be called There and Back Again?  Doubtful.  I think that title will go to the third and final film and that the second film will take on a different title.  Maybe The Desolation of Smaug? 
     Also as to the release date of the third film the logical choice would be December 12, 2014, however various reports are stating that the third film may actually be released in summer 2014.  More on this story as it develops.
     In the meantime the debut of the first part in this new trilogy is now just slightly over four months away!

*By shooting time I mean the actual number of days that filming took place.  The amount of days for all three films was about 250 however actually principal photography began in March 2011 and ended a little over four weeks ago.