I have been covering news about the Hobbit movies for quite some time. Nearly three years ago, when Guillermo del Toro was still firmly part of the project, I posted this report:
Rumors have been going around the internet about the upcoming Hobbit movies, with some claiming the movies will be made in 3-D and that a third Hobbit movie is in the works. Both rumors are untrue.
When asked about the three-movie rumor, director Guillermo del Toro told LatinReview.com that a third movie was “all speculation… quite wild… and inventive.”
OneRing.net contacted del Toro about the 3-D rumor, and was told that “there are absolutely NO conversations about doing the HOBBIT films in 3D.”
How things have changed. We have known for sure since around March of 2010 that the Hobbit movies would be shot in 3D, and at Comic-Con, just minutes ago, Peter Jackson reportedly left open the possibility of a third movie. This would presumably bridge the time between The Hobbit Part 2: There and Back Again, and The Fellowship of the Ring.
According to a fresh report on TheOneRing.net, here is what Jackson had to say when asked about rumors of another movie: “There’s much more material from the Appendices of Lord of the Rings that we didn’t fit in.” According to TheOneRing:
Jackson says that he greatly desires to go back and film more in Middle-earth. This extra footage may or may not be destined for extended editions—extended editions are something that we definitely expect to see. However, the exciting possibility is that a third Hobbit film is also on Jackson’s mind—and he admitted it!
He wouldn’t outright commit to anything. He didn’t say: “Yes, I’m doing a third film.” On the other hand, he didn’t close the door completely.
Is this just a case of an over-exuberant fan reporter, or is there something to this? Warner Brothers has no plans for a third film, but if The Unexpected Journey is a huge success, will they consider it?
That remains to be seen. For now, just expect some additional footage in extended editions. …and I plan to sort though the reports coming out of Comic-Con and provide the highlights for those who just don’t have time to read everything.
Update:
Here is what Jackson told io9.com when he was asked if he was “thinking of splitting the second movie into two parts.” (For a very short video, see the article, Peter Jackson wants to shoot more Hobbit footage and hopes to split the final flick in two.)
Well, we’ve been certainly talking to the studio about some of the material we can’t film. And we’ve been asking them if we can do a bit more filming next year. Which I don’t know what would come of that, whether that would be extended additions or not. But those discussions are ongoing… I’d like to shoot a bunch more material that we can’t shoot. There’s so much good stuff in the appendices that we haven’t been able to squeeze into these movies. That’s a discussion that we’re having, yeah.
ComingSoon.net has an extended quote by Jackson which is well worth reading. The whole quote is too long to include here, but you can read the whole thing for yourself: Comic-Con: Peter Jackson on Filming More Hobbit Footage.) Here is a brief snippet:
It’s very premature. I mean we have an incredible source material with the appendices because ‘The Hobbit’ is obviously a novel but we also have the rights to use this 125 pages of additional notes where Tolkien expanded the world. …Fran and I have been talking to the studio about other things we haven’t been able to shoot and seeing if we persuade them to do a few more weeks of shooting, probably more than a few weeks actually, next year. And what form that would actually end up taking, well the discussions are pretty early. So there isn’t really anything to report but there’s other parts of the story that we’d like to tell that we haven’t been able to tell yet.
Follow our Hobbit coverage on Facebook!
