Third 'Hobbit' film announced

[Le Socialiste]

You may be wondering how "The Hobbit" can be stretched into an entire trilogy of films -- a plan director Peter Jackson confirmed on Monday. The film version is based on one book, after all.

But Jackson, who Yahoo! Movies recently saw at Comic-Con, foreshadowed Monday's news as he explained that he is drawing upon source material written by J.R.R. Tolkien -- material that was never published in the original book.

"There [are] other parts of the story we want to tell that we haven't had a chance to tell yet," he said.

Jackson justified the then imminent move to make three films: "We have incredible source material with the appendices. Because 'The Hobbit' is obviously the novel, but then we also have the rights to use 125 pages of additional notes that... expanded the world of 'The Hobbit' that's published at the end of 'Return of the King.'"

Jackson provided further explanation on Monday in a Facebook post, arguing that the extra story material he is drawing upon may forever be kept under wraps if he doesn't use it now: "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."

Indeed, given that Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" franchise made so much money at the box office, all three movies grossing more than $1 billion, Warner Bros. is undoubtedly seeing dollar signs.

Saying that the duo of "Hobbit" films has now turned into three, Jackson added in his post, "It has been an unexpected journey indeed, and in the words of Professor Tolkien himself, 'a tale that grew in the telling.'"

http://movies.yahoo.com/blogs/movie-talk/extra-story-drawn-upon-hobbit-trilogy-194114585.html

[TheGodlessUtopian]

Interesting... I have the funny feeling that the trilogy is going to suck.

[Red Rabbit]

The Hobbit is one of my favorite books. I really hope the movie doesn't ruin it.

[Permanent Revolutionary]

I'm a bit apprehensive about this, but Tolkien did write a lot of extra stuff, that wasn't in the main books....

[RedSonRising]

If Peter doesn't try and give us too much of a good thing, this could work out great. He's the one who so masterfully transposed it onto the screen, after all.

[eric922]

Ehh I'm wary. I was wary when they broke it into two parts. The Hobbit book is shorter than any of the LoTR trilogy. It could be really good, but I'm reserving judgement.

[RedSonRising]

Any clue as to what other stories exactly they'll be including?

[Red Commissar]

Any clue as to what other stories exactly they'll be including?

I would assume it has something to do with Gandalf- there'll probably be parts before the Hobbit even begins such as Gandalf finding Thorin's father in the "Necromancer's" hideout at Dol Guldur where he gives him the map to Lonley Mountain that starts the whole adventure in the first place.

More importantly though as we'll learn later, Thorin's father also had in possession one of the rings of power, which he also gives to Gandalf with the map. We learn later in LOTR that Sauron had been gradually gathering all the rings back to him that he had given to the Dwarves, and this gives Gandalf and the others the feeling that the "Necromancer" is something related to Sauron, maybe one of the ringwraiths, though Gandalf apparently finds out somehow that the Necromancer is in fact Sauron gathering his strength once more after disappearing into the east following his defeat.

There's a part in the book where Gandalf leaves the party (I believe before they enter the forest) and doesn't return until the end of the book. He later says he was called away on an important mission by the White Council (Wizards and Elves) to deal with the rising threat of the Necromancer, and this results in a battle to eject the Necromancer from Dol Guldur. Presumably, the Necromancer had a hand in the darkness (such as the spiders) in Mirkwood, and may have hoped to manipulate Smaug to his own goals. He later tells Bilbo about this fight, but, again, we find out that this "necromancer" was Sauron from conversations in LOTR, which would for obvious reasons greatly upset Gandalf, the rest of the Wizards, the Elves, and others.

I say this because from the trailers I've seen, there's are several parts where Gandalf is all on his own, particular one where he's in some outdoor ruins that is all grimdark, which I think might be the Necromancer's hideout at Dol Guldur. They might also introduce some greater look into the world, maybe flesh out the characters more than Tolkien did. That being said I'm not sure how this necessitates three movies unless they are intending to make Gandalf's own mission on behalf of the White Council an entirely new, fleshed out storyline. Even then this is risky.

[RedSonRising]

I would assume it has something to do with Gandalf- there'll probably be parts before the Hobbit even begins such as Gandalf finding Thorin's father in the "Necromancer's" hideout at Dol Guldur where he gives him the map to Lonley Mountain that starts the whole adventure in the first place.

More importantly though as we'll learn later, Thorin's father also had in possession one of the rings of power, which he also gives to Gandalf with the map. We learn later in LOTR that Sauron had been gradually gathering all the rings back to him that he had given to the Dwarves, and this gives Gandalf and the others the feeling that the "Necromancer" is something related to Sauron, maybe one of the ringwraiths, though Gandalf apparently finds out somehow that the Necromancer is in fact Sauron gathering his strength once more after disappearing into the east following his defeat.

There's a part in the book where Gandalf leaves the party (I believe before they enter the forest) and doesn't return until the end of the book. He later says he was called away on an important mission by the White Council (Wizards and Elves) to deal with the rising threat of the Necromancer, and this results in a battle to eject the Necromancer from Dol Guldur. Presumably, the Necromancer had a hand in the darkness (such as the spiders) in Mirkwood, and may have hoped to manipulate Smaug to his own goals. He later tells Bilbo about this fight, but, again, we find out that this "necromancer" was Sauron from conversations in LOTR, which would for obvious reasons greatly upset Gandalf, the rest of the Wizards, the Elves, and others.

I say this because from the trailers I've seen, there's are several parts where Gandalf is all on his own, particular one where he's in some outdoor ruins that is all grimdark, which I think might be the Necromancer's hideout at Dol Guldur. They might also introduce some greater look into the world, maybe flesh out the characters more than Tolkien did. That being said I'm not sure how this necessitates three movies unless they are intending to make Gandalf's own mission on behalf of the White Council an entirely new, fleshed out storyline. Even then this is risky.

That actually makes the most sense. There was a real long gap in the middle of the novel where Gandalf is called back by the Istari, and there's a lot of talk about the Darkness growing in Mirkwood without a lot of first-hand descriptions about it, beyond meeting Thranduil in the forest of what I assume is Mirkwood (where I bet they insert Legolas and who knows who else.)