I admit I ignored last week's rambling news about Peter Jackson turning The Hobbit into a trilogy of films.
What hogwash, I thought. It's one of Tolkein's shortest books! Better to let the rumor die. Well, here we are a week later - and Jackson has confirmed this as actual fact. The Hobbit will be with us in 2012, in 2013, and then finally finish itself off in a frenzy of hairy feet and tobacco smoke in 2014.
Jackson announced the news on his Facebook page, with the following message:
Peter Jackson wrote:
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
I adore Peter Jackson, but this had better be something.
The first installment, titled An Unexpected Journey, is set to be released on December 14, 2012. Chapter two, There and Back Again on December 13, 2013. No release date has been announced for the third and final chapter.
My concern is that THE HOBBIT doesn't contain a fraction of the emotional weight that LORD OF THE RINGS does. People flocked to those movies because of the characters they cared about whereas THE HOBBIT rests on the shoulders of a bunch of farting, stumbling comic relief dwarfs.
Three movies!?! The third film better be nothing but LOTR fan service.