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BREAKING: Peter Jackson has just confirmed he will split The Hobbit into three films, the third of which will be released sometime in summer 2014. Jackson dropped hints about this at Comic-Con, explaining he had a wealth of storytelling that came from 125 pages of appendices that JRR Tolkien included in a later publication of The Return Of The King, the final installment of The Lord Of The Rings. I wrote a piece skeptical of milking three movies out of a single book, and 125 pages of notes, and I hope that Jackson delivers the goods. I don’t believe there have been any renegotiation with talent that should be paid an extra check for another film, even if they didn’t know they were making three. Those details are still being worked out.
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Do the powers-that-be not realise this is the kind of ridiculous decision that foments piracy. Not only do punters have to shell out for three cinema tickets, they have to wait three Christmases for the privilege of seeing the ending (which they’ve known since they were 12)!
PJ nailed Lord of the Rings, and he’s a genuinely ground-breaking director, but this smacks of the cynicism around the Grindhouse decision by the Weinsteins.
Hollywood is eating itself.
That’s the most idiotic comment I’ve ever read. Don’t make 3 films because we’ll pirate them? And we have to wait 3 Christmases to see the end? Are you kidding me? It’s a movie. It’s entertainment. If there are 3 good films here, you get MORE to love. What’s the matter with you?
I agree with what you said. So many horrible movies are being made and put in theaters. There are not enough of the good movies being made. I’m glad that Peter Jackson has enough talent to give us another Triology.
Well said…
Just a note, the article does say the third movie will be out in the summer of 2014, not Christmas
I only got one thing to say to the whining about three tickets. Star Wars Franchise. How many people stood in line for the orginal three that had allready seen it. Here’s film that none of us has seen. Be a man pay for the three films!
When the eagles came to rescue the two leads in the 9th hour of the last film, we turned to each other and said why couldn’t they just bring them to Mordor because they retrieve Frodo and Samwise so easily from Mordor.
THREE HOBBIT FILMS TO MILK THE PUBLIC WILL FAIL. IT WILL NO LONGER BE BASED ON TOLKEIN’s WORKS BUT PETER JACKSON’s IMAGINATION. YAWNING….
Actually, the 125 pages of the appendices will be going into more details about the characters and how they relate to the Lord of the Rings. So it will still be more of Tolkein’s work than anything else. And just think about how many people were upset with the three lord of the rings movies because of how much was taken out of them from the books.
Plus if you were wondering why they didn’t fly Frodo into Mordor then you obviously didn’t pay attention to the movies, let alone read the books with any bit of a critical thinking process.
I just saw the Hobbit and asked the same question about the hawks picking up everyone and dropping them off ontop of a cliff with Lonely Mountain in site but two movies away!
Why don’t you just wait till 2014 then, watch the first two on DVD, go to cinema watch the final one and stop moaning?
Oh, wow — once more the Buck triumphs over Art. Well, millions of poor little sucker fans will show up for this unnecessary film.
THE HOBBIT could have worked as ONE well-made three hour film. They could hardly justify two. This is simply…typical…
How does buck triumf over art when it was the director’s own creative decision, not the studio’s? This is his last chance to tell everything that he bought the rights for. There will be no other Middle-Earth movie because everything else is owned by th Tolkien estate and they won’t sell to Jackson because they hate his movies. What about watching it first before judging? Sheesh.
What about not, and pretending I did? Also, at this point the director IS the studio. Sure, making a movie requires creativity (sometimes) — however, this was a business decision, not a creative one. But don’t worry, the fanboys will show up and it’s going to be the BEST. THING. EVER. Until the next “relevant” franchise, and the next, and the one after that, and then the one after that…
Aha, so you’re one of THOSE! Criticizing something without having seen. Okay. Good to know your opinion isn’t relevant then.
I think Jackson is stalling because he has not other ideas. His last good movie was Return of the King, followed by the bloated (and unnecessary) King Kong and uneven Lovely Bones. He knows people will flock to The Hobbit. Personally I’m not excited about this project and I don’t feel like watching three more 2-3hour long movies….snooooze
Don’t be a hater. Just go and watch your reruns of Hannah Montana.
I completely agree with the statement. J.R Tolkiens work is great and there is plenty of things that happened in the hobbit. About 3 huge events and 2 normal size events. But to make a 3 part movie just seems like such a scandel. The other books were way bigger than the hobbit and they made 1 long movie from all them. They just want to make the money off J.R’s work before they completely run out of his work to do movies off from. I do not think this is right at all. As someone stated above, they should have at least just turned it into a two movie saga.
Suddenly I’ve come over all unenthusiastic like for The Hobbit.
Same, 2 was pushing it but 3 is just silly. I love Peter but he has a bad habit of giving people too much.
What will the third film be called?
“An Unexpected Film”
“Milking the Shire”
“There and back again again”
“The Lord of the Hobbit”
Epic titles!
Milking the shire! Hahahahaha!
An obvious, pathetic money grab.
Do you really think Peter Jackson (who has more money than God at this point) really gives a shit about more money? He laid out his reasons in a clear explanation on his Facebook page.
Wouldn’t it be great if Peter Jackson wrote or got someone to write another story line about Middle Earth and made another Trilogy out of it? The more the merrier!
Peter Jackson is a great director. He explained the reason for the Triology on Facebook as the other person stated. Even without the explanation, I would want to watch any and all of these movies. It’s pure entertainment. If it’s not your type of entertainment, then don’t watch, but don’t complain either. There are a lot of tacky or horrible films being made (that our children can not view, and put in theaters nowadays, so I am thankful for directors like Peter Jackson.
First!!!
Will the third be a prequel to Fellowship of the Ring?
The entire Hobbit is a “prequel” to FotR
A 310 page book being turned into 3 movies.
THANKS HOLLYWOOD IM SO EXCITED THAT YOU’RE STAYING TRUE TO THE BOOK INSTEAD OF MILKING THE FRANCHISE UNTIL THE LAST DROP
Have you actually read the book? Gandalf disappears halfway through to meet the other wizards and then to battle the Necromancer which we never see. The Battle of Five armies is like 15 pages long… If they stayed true to the book, you would be disappointed.
There was a reason that Gandalf just disappears in the book. There is no interlude – no cutaway chapters that show what he is doing – because that does not fit in with the tone of the film. It is a fun book that just touches upon the surface of the dark storylines of the Ring saga. To include everything with the excuse that “there is a wealth of material available” is just ridiculous. There is also the Silmarillion with tonnes of backstory. Why didn’t they include it in the LOTR and made it a 100 hour marathon?
What about finding out facts first before going all abluster? Silmarillion is owned by the Tolkien estate and they refuse to sell the rights to Jackson.
And why should Jackson NOT include the White Council and the battle against the Necromancer in The Hobbit. If Gandalf just disappeared and then appeared again without explanation or just saying, you know, I just battled the Necromancer but you don’t need to know that, that would be ridiculous. The Hobbit won’t be a kids a movie, it’ll fit the tone of the LotR movies as it should. And it should include ALL the relevant storylines.
HOLLYWOOD DID NOT DECIDE TO DO THIS! PETER JACKSON DID! Get over yourself people, he loves the lore and the masterpieces Tolkien has created and is excited to bring it to the big screen. Read his comments or press releases before just deciding “HOLLYWOOD WANTS MORE MONEY< SO WE GET A CRAPPY MOVIE! DER DE DER DUH DER!" Have a little faith people, Peter Jackson cut some of the best things of LotR out of the movies and STILL managed to make 3 great movies! Why can't the opposite be true??
I’d just like to point out that, eventho I disagree with making the hobbit into 3 films, because it is ONLY one book. Those of us who understand adaptation and screenwriting know that 100 pages is approximately 100 screen minutes, so over 300 pages, assuming he intends to put everything in it, would make it over 300 screen minutes which warrants two films. the third film from what he has described has more to do with the notes he has on the hobbit which he feels the world should see. That being said, if he could make one film out of every lord of the rings book then surely he could have made one 3h30min film from ONE book?
I agree. 1 book, 1 movie. 3 is just getting a little ridiculous.
This is worse than Twilight splitting Breaking Dawn.
1) That was done in a reasonable amount of time, not as last-minute.
2) LORT trilogy set a high standard for the splitting/releasing process of film series, so this looks even worse.
No. Breaking Dawn includes no history, backstory, or lore that would deem it necessary to expand the universe any further. You’re attempt at comparing Tolkien with Meyer is insulting.
This is not last-minute. They just finished principal photography. The 3rd film wouldn’t come out for another two years. Movies are made in post-production and editing for the most part.
I’m not comparing the books. I’m comparing the timing of the decision of an extra film in each franchise.
Twilight made that decision early enough (before they started working on the the third film, I believe — certainly BEFORE they started working on the two-parter).
We’re now in August. The Hobbit is a one book that is supposedly all set for its Dec. 2012 and Dec. 2013 release dates.
It’s like Summit just NOW decided to split Breaking Dawn.
Get my point?
I heard they’re doing the same for the remake of “Carrie”.
he won’t even need to hire anyone else to pad the movies out. He can just make up the time difference with more long sweeping shots of New Zealand geography. That should easily eat up a half hour for each film.
The Hobbit? More like The Milk-it. AMIRITE?!?!?!??
No, you’re not.
Yeah, he is right. When Tolkein wrote The Hobbit the ring that Bilbo found was not originally going to be the One Ring nor were his adventures supposed to be a precursor to the bigger events of Middle-earth. Also, The Hobbit was written in the style of a fairy tale, which does not lend itself to the darker undertones of what else was going on during Bilbo’s adventures.
I wouldn’t mind the additional films if I knew PJ was going to stick to the source material he is supposdely using, but I know he won’t. He get things out of order, make non-sensicial edits and change core characters for no good reason.
Let’s be honest, the only reason this small book is being made into another trilogy is for the glorification of PJ’s ego and the money that it will generate. Whether it is going to be good or not is irrelevant because people won’t care. All they want to see is a bunch of mindless violence and PJ’s own unique brand of schlocky melodrama.
As long as this is the bridge film that was proposed years ago, I’m no all for it, and it’s not a money grab. The bridge film would be a film that takes place between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings that helps explain what happens in the 60 years between them. I’m all for that.
I’m not for events from The Hobbit itself being stretch across three films.
Stop with the hate people. I agree with Patrick, if this is the “bridge” film that was suggested earlier – I would agree with Jackson’s decision to make a third film. Why would fans of the LOTR be angry about more movies to see about Middle-Earth? Do they understand that these films will likely be the last movies set in that universe and therefore they should appreciate the hell out of getting another movie? Jackson deserves some discretion in this decision, and it sounds like it is the DIRECTOR’S decision to make another movie NOT the studios. Some people just like to complain.
That’s cute that you naievely believe these will be the last films shot in Middle-earth. There were three movies made BEFORE PJ even filmed The Fellowship of the Ring. With as cyclical as Hollywood is there is no way this trilogy will be the last. It might take a decade or two, but I can virtually guarantee that at some point down the road a movie studio exec or a director will say “Hey! Why don’t we remake the LOTR? It’s been awhile since PJ’s version. I’m sure most people have forgotten that by now.”
I am not sure what you mean by a bridge film. If Tolkien didn’t see it fit for a novel length work, then it probably isn’t good enough for a film. JRR Tolkien kept tinkering with his material throughout his life – perfecting it to the form we know today. That does not mean that the original narrative of his books was imperfect. The backstories only give the main storyline depth to the avid reader. I am pretty sure this “extra” material should have been released as a DVD extra or a webseries.
And before you say you trust Peter Jackson, I trust Tolkien even more. He is the definitive voice on Middle Earth – not Peter Jackson.
Yeah, that’s why the Battle of Five armies, one of the biggest battles for Middle-Earth, is only a chapter or so long. Tolkien wasn’t known for going into detail. That doesn’t mean we don’t deserve to know the details. Film is completely different from a book.
tolkien isnt known for going into detail…
Meh…you do whatever you want PJ, I’m out of this franchise.
These comments are BS, sorry but true. You can legitimately complain about splitting it into three films, although a good question has been raised; will the 3rd film be what happens the 60 years between The Hobbit and LOTR’s, the material provided by the appendixes at the end of RotK. But back to my BS comment, people saying things like “I am through with this fraanchise”. 99% of the people making said claims will see the movies when the time comes, stop pretending otherwise.
I agree that even the idea of not seeing these movies is ridiculous. At the same time, the splitting up of the movies seems – at this point – a pretty bad decision to me and a lot of book lovers. Maybe the movies will be pleasantly surprising – who knows? We haven’t seen the films. And I certainly will. But I reserve the right to voice my doubts over stretching a tight little fun book into a loose LOTR appendices heavy saga which it never even was in the first place.
you were never in it…
This is going to be way too long of a movie. I think i’ll wait till it’s on DVD with the extended editions. By that time it will be 4 movies long.
What’s up with all the hate? You’re asses will all be in the theater-for all THREE FILMS-so stop fronting. Stop fronting.
Not likely. I might watch it when it makes it to DVD, unless he goes and pads those out as well. If he didn’t push 3D 48fps as so important, and just made a great film, I would’ve been there. I’m already tired of the piece. As usual, I’m forced to go back into classic Hollywood to find new and interesting pictures to watch.
The movie will be both in 24fps and 48fps, everybody will be able to choose. And considering the next Avatar movie should be in 60fps, what’s wrong with pushing the boundaries of technology? We would still be watching BW stuff if people hadn’t. But considering your comment, that’s probably exactly what you would prefer. Progress can’t be stopped.
EXACTLY!!! Thank you. It is so pathetic. Stop fronting, stop BS’ing!
No. No it won’t.
You might be right, but you might be wrong. Have you even read the book? It is children’s book. And it is a short one.
guys…..guys….. why do we even care about how many films the hobbit is going to be?
I wounldn’t give a shit even if they were gonna make 10 films, I mean I wish The Lord Of The Rings were more films
Sounds like you guys watch too much episodic TV. Can we please keep cinema from turning into soap operas; or maybe it’s too late.
Transformers, Batman, Mission Impossible, James Bond, Star Trek, etc
I present to you the problem.
IF THIS MESSES UP A NEW SERIES OF SHERLOCK IN ANY WAY…
Amen to that.
I’m with you on that one…
While I have to agree with that sentiment, if it frees up Cumberbatch to go do some Doctor Who I’m all for it!
HAHA! No I don’t think they’ll be doing any additional filming, they probably have everything and decided to make another film out of it instead of adding on time for an extended edition. Cumberbatch is shooting 12 Years a Slave anyway ^^
No, Jackson specifically said he wanted to film some more scenes. I think the real reason he’s doing this is because of how emotional he was about everyone leaving in the Production Vlog #8. He obviously was looking for a reason to keep everyone around longer.
But I personally am excited for this. I haven’t read The Hobbit in a few years, so it’s not completely fresh on my mind. I’ll have it read before December, but in general I’m just not too worried about any liberties he takes with the films. The only thing I’m not too sure about is Tauriel, but I’m willing to give her the benefit of a doubt too.
Seriously? Was this comment necessary? Sherlock will be filmed between January and April 2013. The third Hobbit movie in summer 2013. No need to shout, just use google.
It will be interesting to see what Peter Jackson does with those 125 pages. We need to respect him and his passion for what he does, I don’t think he is doing the extra film just to make money but to show people the other part to Tolkien’s story.
THANK YOU! cant we all just keep an open mind until dec 14? then we can argue the hell out of each other. and, if necessary, insult PJ.
I don’t mind it being a trilogy, but like someone else already said, how the fuck do you turn a fairly short book into three feature films? Does everyone talk extra slow? 2 min establishing shots?
I am so psyched for The Hobbit but I’m getting a feeling that this may ruin it as the book is only 300 and something pages and I was fine with 2 3 hour films but now were gonna have 3 3 hour films that will likely have unnecessary scenes or 1 unnecessary film. I am a big fan or Lord of the Rings and I hope Jackson can pull it off and prove me and everyone wrong.
if it means we get to se Benedict Cumberbatch on screen in the flesh as Sauron then I’m all for it.
It makes no sense to fixate on the number of pages. They’re dense with history, with an epic scope and scores of characters. There’s more than enough material, but I would prefer to see them do something like Children of Hurin rather than a 3rd Hobbit.
Ye of little faith. I believe if Pete Jackson didn’t feel he could do the third film justice he would make sure that it was not put into production. At his core Pete Jackson is a fan before he is a director and I think he’s making sure that as much of Tolkien s world is going to be shared as possible. I too was skeptical when the rumor first surfaced, but now that it’s official I am all on board and have zero doubts that myself and every other fan of the franchise will not be let down. Shame on you for immediately accusing him of being money hungry without even seeing the first film. Truly, shame on you!
Summer 2014? Surely they meant winter? Firstly, this isn’t a summer film. And secondly, summer 2014 is already ridiculously crowded.
There are a lot of people who don’t know what they are talking about. The length of a book does not even begin to determine how long a film should be. One Martin novel is being turned into 10 hours of film for HBO. And they could probably still add more. The Lord of the Rings could have been 6 movies if they had included everything.
Not including Peter Jackson’s facebook message about why this is necessary does this an injustice, because people think this is coming from the studio. Jackson has earned my trust to make three movies that include wonderful exposition and fleshing out of themes and characters. Only is some alternate universe are people complaining about this.
And how many people would be excited to watch “The Game of Thrones” (only the first novel) filmed as a five part movie franchise? With all the parts releasing a few months apart?
Just imagine they had made The Rings trilogy in this age. Then it wouldn’t be a trilogy. We’d get 9 films, spanning a decade just like Harry Potter. I’m quite sure the studio is wondering why they didn’t think of that.