Chances Are Getting Better That We’ll Get A Trilogy Of “The Hobbit” Films!

According to this story at The Hollywood Reporter, tipped off to me by Ian Kerner, it appears that Peter Jackson is involved in deep discussions with Warner Brothers about expanding his two part adaptation of JRR Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” into a film trilogy.

Jackson teased the idea at Comic-Con on July 14, telling fans that he wants to shoot more footage. But since then, sources say that studio Warner Bros., Jackson, producer Fran Walsh and writer-producer Philippa Boyens began exploring the logistics of what it would take to make another movie. Those talks are said to have accelerated in recent days, with the studio on board if the right financial arrangements can be achieved. That includes securing new actor deals for the expansive cast as well as shoring up certain rights associated with the property (The Hobbit has a long a tortured rights history.)

While I was weary at first about stretching two films into three, it seems from the above blurb like the expansion would require additional shooting to smooth things out and in order adapt a hundred pages of material that JRR Tolkien had originally planned on using to rewrite/update ‘The Hobbit’ after his completion of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ books. Tolkien obviously never got the chance but his notes were included in a recent edition of his books and give us a fascinating look at a legendary storyteller.

The Hobbit is my favorite book on earth. I remember my father giving it to me shortly after my parent’s got divorced. A few days later, I left with my mom and brothers on a trip to Guadalajara to visit family and sat in the backseat reading the book once on the way down and again on the way back. I would look out the windows and imagine I was going on the same journey alongside Bilbo, Gandalf and his band of dwarven adventurers. As a 10 year old kid readjusting my view and place in the world, I needed that book. I don’t think I’ve ever needed a book like I needed that book then. It opened the door to fantasy and sci-fi and the later existence of this site, etc.

I trust that Peter Jackson knows what he’s doing. Since the night that I saw ‘Meet the Feebles’ and ‘Brain Dead’ at the Dobie theater in Austin, he’s been a filmmaker that I’ve trusted to deliver a fully engrossing experience. Three Peter Jackson ‘Hobbit’ films are better than two… and the inclusion of JRR Tolkien’s own notes on the updating of ‘The Hobbit’ from children’s book to something on par with ‘The Lord of the Rings’ both tonally and structurally, while putting it in the greater context of Middle Earth, is something I’m looking forward to seeing. He is using Tolkien as his guide, not just making things up to sell a third movie for profit. Jackson is making something that can fit appropriately alongside his ‘Rings’ trilogy and not feel like an addendum.

We’ll see what happens, but this is promising news for fans of the books and Peter Jackson.