Why are there going to be three "Hobbit" movies?

[Zoidberg]

Paul F. wrote:
From what I've read, they are going to be extending The Hobbit by using unpublished Tolkien material... So the first two movies will be mostly The Hobbit, but the third will material not in The Hobbit book.

Actually, I think it's going to be spliced into the storyline. Keep in mind The Hobbit is one book but with a lot going on. Had each of "The Lord of the Rings" books been fully filmed, we would have easily seen a trilogy for each book. (And as noted by Black, Acer, et al, that wouldn't have been a bad thing.)

My thinking is this; they realized there's a lot going on in Middle Earth during the story of The Hobbit. Remember, there's a war going on (the War in the North? I forget) and Gandalf disappears from time to time. I think partly we'll see where he's gone.

http://www.TheOneRing.net keeps things up-to-date insofar as they're announced or discovered, if you don't mind spoilery news.