Hobbit Movie: And Then There Were Three...

Great news, hobbitses, orc, elves, and men.

Mr. Peter Jackson gave us some really great news.  Instead of two Hobbit movies, he worked out a deal with the studios to produce three movies.  Now, fantastic news and all.  But really, did the studios really need a whole lot of arm twisting to make more money than they could have with just two movies?

Say each movie makes a billion dollars on the backs of the popularity of the three Lord of the Rings movies (the only fantasy movies I have ever seen), that means instead of two billion worth of pie, there will be three billion dollars.

Movie-making theatrics and politics aside, I am really looking forward to the series on big screen but at the same time, we will end up paying for more to watch them.  But hey, we ask for it, and we got what we want.

Imagine the two originally planned movies as DVD releases.  And you know some time later, the studios will released special versions of the movies with deleted scenes.  Well, it's like that except we'll get to watch the extended versions and bypass the DVD releases.

This video below is the first of about eight video blogs published so far on and definitely worth taking the time (even if you have to do it at work) to watch them.  It'll be a longer wait for a few months longer - December 14th, 2012 is the first movie release.

When news surfaced that Peter Jackson was talking to the studios about making three movies instead of two, there was no question in my mind about this.  What I wanted to know next is after the three Hobbit movies are done and over with, what's next in for Middle Earth?

There is surly plenty of materials in the world created by J.R.R. Tolkien for sequels as well as prequels.  The closest thing that comes close to this in modern day is the Star Wars series.  We all know how the prequels were received by the general public and by the more vocal fans.

I'm sure Peter Jackson will be most faithful to the vision created by Tolkien as far as the Hobbit movies are concerned because he made the Lord of the Rings movies.  Beyond that?  Whoever will take over next is going to have a tall order following Jackson's footsteps.

And then after that, can you imagine that talks of remakes?  The Fellowship of the Ring was released back in 2001.  By the time the three Hobbits movies are done in the theaters in 2014, it will have been thirteen years.

Whatever happens, I'd say bring it on.  I'll start saving up.  It's like the title for the Hobbit book says, "There And Back Again..."

Note:  According to CNN, the three movie release dates will be as follows:  the first movie titled "An Unexpected Journey" will be released this December 14th.  The second movie will be released on December 13th, 2013 and the final movie will be released during the summer of 2014.