‘The Hobbit’ Will Span Three Movies
Following suit with its successful franchise peers, The Hobbit will be split into three movies director Peter Jackson has announced. “Upon recently viewing a cut of the first film, and a chunk of the second, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and I were very pleased with the way the story was coming together,” Jackson shared. “We recognized that 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, gave rise to a simple question: Do we tell more of the tale? And the answer from our perspective as filmmakers and fans was an unreserved yes.”
“We know the strength of our cast and of the characters they have brought to life,” Jackson continued. “We know creatively how compelling and engaging the story can be, and — lastly, and most importantly — we know how much of the tale of Bilbo Baggins, the Dwarves of Erebor, the rise of the Necromancer, and the Battle of Dol Guldur would remain untold if we did not fully realize this complex and wonderful adventure. I’m delighted that New Line, MGM and Warner Bros. are equally enthusiastic about bringing fans this expansive tale across three films.”
The third film of the ‘Lord of the Rings’ prequel is scheduled to be released sometime in the summer of 2014 with The Hobbit’s first installment, ‘An Unexpected Journey’, slated for a Dec. 14th 2012 release. The franchise’s second installment, ‘There and Back Again’, will hit theaters on Dec. 13, 2013.
