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

[freeradical]

There's just one book, right?

[dad@home]

Two makes good sense, otherwise one movie would be way too long.

Three?.......$$$$$$$$

John

[Acer]

Count your blessings that Lord of the Rings wasn't 12 movies.

[sekker]

Acer wrote:
Count your blessings that Lord of the Rings wasn't 12 movies.

Extended release runtime is like 6 movies.

[Paul F.]

From what I've read, they are going to be extending The Hobbit by using unpublished Tolkien material...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.

[cbelt3]

Because it takes 3 movies for that much AWESOME !!!

Most of the Tolkein faithful were annoyed at the missing story elements in the LOTR films. I wanted to see Billy Crystal and Carol Kane as Tom Bombadil and his wife !

[Black]

Acer wrote:
Count your blessings that Lord of the Rings wasn't 12 movies.

Sorry, doesn't sound like a bad thing.

[Acer]

Black wrote:
[quote=Acer]
Count your blessings that Lord of the Rings wasn't 12 movies.

Sorry, doesn't sound like a bad thing.
Well, I would enjoy all 12 myself, but free seemed like he just wanted it all to be done by dinner.

[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From what I've read, they are going to be extending The Hobbit by using unpublished Tolkien material...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.

[Acer]

The extra material (I understand) is mainly derived (with a "few" blanks filled in) from the appendices of the LOTR. Jackson does not have rights to use anything from Silmarillion or the copious notes and drafts published otherwise.