GeekDad is reporting that The Hobbit will now be a movie trilogy.
Count me amongst those whom find this a disheartening bit of news. It’s been awhile since I’ve read it, but I can’t imagine there’s enough material to make 3 movies worth. In particular, I’m having a hard time imagining the break points between the movies. While the defeat of Smaug and the War of the 5 Armies seems like a logical point between 2 and three, I can’t think where the first would make for a decent break point. Perhaps the escape from the goblins?
Either way, it seems likely this is a money making move. If 1000 pages of LOTR took 3 movies, I can’t see why 300 pages of The Hobbit couldn’t have been squeezed into 1. Perhaps Peter Jackson has gotten a bit big for his britches.
3 replies on “Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” Now a Trilogy”
I actually just reread it and finished it about a week or so ago…still a great story and a very fast read. BUT…you are dead on right…I know that they want to monetize this thing as much as possible…but there are dead spots in the story and stuff that is going to make the end of the first movie, the entire second and the beginning of the third extremely difficult to sit through.
Ironically, after reading it again, I do not really think there is as much to it as I remember, the story, for the most part, is a pretty simple tale and there really are not all that many plot twists that couldn’t be fit into a 2:45 or two 2:00 movies.
I really think this is a situation, where outside of the money thing, Jackson wants to put his cinematography on display for three movies. In the end, I think it will backfire, as I am sure they will make money, but it will render the trilogy a lot less memorable than if it was one triumphant flourish. I actually have to equate this to being lazy and not wanted to leave too much on the cutting room floor.
Although, I have been wrong plenty, I may be wrong here…but I was right about Rock of Ages…so I will still feel good about myself in the morning.
You know…there is the journey to the mountain, the meeting of Gollum…also, the defeat of Smaug, after reading it again, really lacks suspense and is actually incredibly disappointing in the book. All of sudden, he is dead…the end and then the war, which is going to drag on, because it is just people being greedy…which won’t play well on screen for more than a few minutes…and then the journey home, which is going to be boring as hell.
The more I think about it…there is plenty in the book, but it is mostly boring and anticlimactic, so I lean more towards my prior post, this could end up badly…once you get past the visual wizardry, which will probably be amazing.
Greed v… from your one armed mother.