The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the first film in a two-part adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, doesn’t hit cinemas until December, but there are already talks of a third film being added to the series, says THR.
From the trade:
[S]ources 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.)
THR then adds another quote from the source:
“If we’re going to do it, we have to make a decision soon,” says a source close to the production. “It’s strongly driven by the filmmakers’ desire to tell more of the story.”
Is this too much Hobbit, and are they simply trying to recreate the magic of Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy? The answer is probably yes to all of those questions and more, but if this is done of a “desire to tell more of the story”, it could be the most epic event of the next three years. Now we just need the tricky 48fps 3D question answered.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is released on 26 December 2012 in Australia from Roadshow. The film will debut in the US on 14 December 2012. The Hobbit: There and Back Again is out 13 December 2013, with a third film presumably at the end of 2014.
