The Hobbit could become a Trilogy

Grimward said:
I expect Smaug's original attack on Dale and the Lonely Mountain, the doings of the White Council and Gandalf's trip to Dol Guldur (in the category of flashbacks) will anchor much of this, but think of all the dialogue and sub-plots that don't really exist which he'll have to invent. Ugh.

And what's next? Characters that don't even really have basis in the books? As annoying as the Arwen/Glorfindel merger was (for example), at least Arwen's early lines in Fellowship all had foundation in something Glorfindel said or did.
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Safe to say that they will undoubtedly add a lot of female content that isn't in the book.
 
If it were anyone else besides Jackson I would be very alarmed. He has a proven record of success though bringing to life what I never would have believed could be done, filming the Lord of the Rings.

I am willing to give him some latitude. It does bring up an interesting question though. My problem with a Hobbit movie (s) has always been that it is such a small story after LotRs. I wonder if Jackson is trying to widen the scope of the Hobbit to be as massive as the Rings trilogy. There is certainly enough material hinted at in the book that could be filmed to place the Hobbit amongst the grand events occurring around their little adventure.

The question becomes, by making the Hobbit a LotR style epic, does it enhance or destroy the joy of the Hobbit novel?
 
Actually that's a very interesting point, GK, from a movie maker's perspective there is a big danger that The Hobbit could be a bit anti-climatic after LotR. So it may well appeal to them to boost it up a bit. Hmm worrying, but then, as you say, Jackson did, I think, show amazing sympathy for the spirit of the books in LotR, so I'm certainly not going to pre-judge but it is worrying.
 
Pandemonium? But that's Milton, not Tolkien, isn't it?


(It'll be one hell of a job hiding the joins between the two books....)
 
And Mr Jackson appears to have confirmed the story:

The Hobbit film project will be extended to a trilogy, director Peter Jackson has confirmed.

In a posting on his Facebook account, Jackson said: "It has been an unexpected journey indeed, and in the words of Professor Tolkien himself, 'A tale that grew in the telling'."
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Hobbit films will be a trilogy
 
At least it will still be shorter than the 1980s computer game, which from memory took 215,987 hours of incandescent rage to get through.
 
HareBrain said:
At least it will still be shorter than the 1980s computer game, which from memory took 215,987 hours of incandescent rage to get through.
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Given that there are, on average, 8766 hours in a year, you must have just finished playing it no earlier than 2006 (assuming you forgot to have any sleep).

No wonder you were a bit tetchy.
 
I've always been in what seems the minority in being fine with two films, a lot happens in The Hobbit. I think people may overlook how much due to it being a quick and breezy read. But three films are surely too many. Way back when Peter Jackson first started to talk about the project he often talked about doing The Hobbit and a second movie that stood between The Hobbit and Lord Of The Rings, basically a true prequel to LOTR.

That wasn't something that ever interested me but it would probably make more sense than a Hobbit trilogy. Perhaps they are going to work some of that into The Hobbit(s) instead. I wish they wouldn't though. :(

I don't like to nitpick the LOTR trilogy too much because I feel there was much more good than bad and overall they were a great cinematic achievment but there were flaws, and bearing in mind the overlong King Kong and disappointing Lovely Bones are what Peter Jackson has made since I don't totally share the faith some have in him to get this right. But I hope to be wrong.
 
On this Facebook page, Jackson says they'll be incorporating material from the appendices in LOTR. I'm trying to think of anything that could involve calling back the same actors they used for the Hobbit (including the whole Necromancer thing, which we know they've included) and I'm coming up with nothing.

Time to get out my copy of LOTR, look through the back matter, and hope something that sounds viable and appropriate turns up.
 
Well, a well-played Thorin flashback to the War of the Dwarves and the Orcs could introduce Dain, develop Thorin's lineage (and therefore his movie character), introduce Thrain and Thror and set the stage for the Necromancer scenes, establish who Bolg is by introducing his father Azog and in doing so set the conflict stage for the Battle of 5 Armies...that's 5 re-used actors (give or take some aging!) right there, (you can't tell the story of the Hobbit without Thrain and Thror to establish why Thorin hates Smaug so much). Maybe this isn't so far-fetched, although the War of the Dwarves and Orcs only consumes a little less than 3 pages in the Appendices, perhaps good for 5-10 minutes max as a vehicle to establish the historical setting.

If nothing else, it would at least explain Thorin's given 2nd name (Oakenshield)....:D
 
Maybe they'll use some of the stuff they chopped from the LOTR, and maybe they show a bit more about what was going at the Angmar, especially in regards of the Witchking coming in power. Endless possibilities that are not true to the original story but can bridge Hobbits with the LOTR.
 
Maybe he got carried away with filming...so the things we pass over in two pages may be taking up much more screen time, so adding in a few extras (maybe the war as mentioned earlier and the necromancer bit where Gandalf disappears) are filling out each film in order to have three nicely full 2 hour films instead of two crammed films or even worse, two really long 3 hour + films...(positive hopeful voice...if it isn't like this I will go on a biscuit destroying rampage and mutter about it to everyone for days/weeks/years)
 
Well looks like Gordian Knot had it right and Jackson is trying to put the Hobbit inot the bigger picture of the history behind LotR.

Jackson said that extending the project to three films "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
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Vertigo said:
Well looks like Gordian Knot had it right and Jackson is trying to put the Hobbit inot the bigger picture of the history behind LotR.
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But as far as I remember, all that bigger picture stuff has only a very peripheral impact on Bilbo's adventure (mainly the absence of Gandalf). The film version risks having two separate plot strands that don't come together until the end, and then only in a not very meaningful way.

One of the things I liked about The Hobbit was the way its adventure seemed to take place in isolation from the wider world, though I guess that's one of the things that makes it a children's story.
 
Have to say I'm in agreement with you HB. The smaller scale of the Hobbit was one of it's attractions to me.

Ah well, time will tell.
 
Taking the positive view: I always did want to know more about what happened at Dol Guldur (I realize Jackson will be guessing, but if I like his guesses I'll be satisfied) and there are scenes in the appendices that I would like to see filmed.

Taking a more suspicious view: Will he chose the right ones and give us a faithful interpretation if he does?
 
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