GasBandit
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Official statement from Jackson confirms: The Hobbit is going to be broken up into 3 movies.
[Movies] Peter Jackson wants more of your money. No, more than that. More. Keep it coming.
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So basically they are going back to the original premise for these films.
DAMMIT I was just about to post this in the Hobbit thread.
My source was different though (Peter Jackson's facebook)...
https://www.facebook.com/notes/peter-jackson/an-unexpected-journey/10151114596546558
My source was different though (Peter Jackson's facebook)...
https://www.facebook.com/notes/peter-jackson/an-unexpected-journey/10151114596546558
I have to wonder how this happens when they're already done principle photography. And are the actors signed on for a trilogy? Do they have to trek back out there and rebuild sets again (Good thing they built hobbiton out of stone and wood and left it up this time as a tourist attraction instead of the polystyrene sets from LOTR that got taken down)....
My best guess is actually that they found these movies are just running too long and the simplest and easiest fix is the most obvious- turn it into three.
My best guess is actually that they found these movies are just running too long and the simplest and easiest fix is the most obvious- turn it into three.
Am I the only one thinking this is overkill? The Hobbit is a very short book (compared to a lot of much longer books that got one movie). What can they possibly do with it that needs two movies, let alone three?
It's been a long time since I've read the books (at least 8 years). What happened in the last 10 pages of the book?
GasBandit
Staff member
You are not alone.
The Hobbit is a short book, but a lot goes unmentioned and is only told in Unfinished Tales. Reading the book, we get
"And then Gandalf buggered off for a while."....
.... "And then Gandalf came back"
But we don't get any of what happened with the White Council. Radagast the Brown isn't even mentioned in the Hobbit, but he arguably played a bigger role in the story than he did in Lord of the Rings, when you look at Gandalf's arc (The story could be told without mentioning the White Council, as Tolkien originally did tell it, but this is a major event to that ties the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings together; it's probably going to be the main focus of the second movie). Similarily, when Bilbo is seperated from the Dwarves, the book follows Bilbo only. We don't see how the dwarves escape the misty mountains. And when we get to the battle of Five Armies, Bilbo is knocked unconcious and we only get a quick recap of what happened from Gandalf afterward. In a movie, you can bet that will be expanded, to take up at least 20 minutes.
I've said before and I'll say it again right now: The Hobbit is a short book that is actually really heavy with plot. It's short because it's a children's book and uses simpler language and focuses on ONE party member's perspective, not because there is less going on. Looking at everything that happens in it, I can very easily see how it would take two movies to tell.
But I really don't get how it can be extended to three. Even if the third movie is meant to "Bridge the gap" between The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, that means we get a movie where Bomber get's fatter, a couple of dwarves die of old age, and basically everyone goes into retirement. The only thing of note that happens between the two that I can think of is the Dwarves attempting to reoccupy Moria (Which would actually be awesome to see), but that doesn't seem like enough.
I assume you mean the Lonely Mountain, since the Misty Mountains are pretty early in the book.
If we need to see all sides of this time period, I'd rather have a Bilbo movie, a Gandalf movie, etc.
Unless Jay's suggestion is correct. I don't mind that, if they just don't want to cut too much. Padding is what I can't stand.
GasBandit
Staff member
I'm visited by bad memories of warg riders and love triangles from Two Towers.
Yeah, padding is what I'm worried about.
Like I keep saying, I can understand two movies out of the Hobbit. Three I can't fathom.
Like I keep saying, I can understand two movies out of the Hobbit. Three I can't fathom.
GasBandit
Staff member
My best guess is they wanted 24 dollars a head instead of 16.
That doesn't make sense at this point in the game though. I'm sure that it factors in heavily. But that decision would have been made months ago. Principle photography is already wrapped up, with just a few pick ups for the second one left. That is not the time to make a decision to start filming a third, when your sets are already destroyed, your actors have gone home and none of them have signed a three picture deal. If you're going to pad out a film for the sake of the extra cash, you make that decision early on, so that you can actually write it that way and shoot it that way.
They wrote and shot for 2. Aside from pick-ups, which leads me to believe that they have an abundance of material. I just can't figure out how.
They wrote and shot for 2. Aside from pick-ups, which leads me to believe that they have an abundance of material. I just can't figure out how.
On the very strange idea that number of pages somehow should directly correlate to length of adaptation on film:
Lord of the Rings: 1,349 pages, including prologue but not including appendices, 557 minutes total for all three movies
A Game of Thrones: 835 pages, first season = 565 minutes. (514 pages shorter, 8 minutes longer)
For that matter,
Where the Wild Things are, 48 pages, 104 minutes
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, 841 pages, 158 minutes
Lord of the Rings: 1,349 pages, including prologue but not including appendices, 557 minutes total for all three movies
A Game of Thrones: 835 pages, first season = 565 minutes. (514 pages shorter, 8 minutes longer)
For that matter,
Where the Wild Things are, 48 pages, 104 minutes
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, 841 pages, 158 minutes
I love The Hobbit.
I could never read LOTR again though. I can't believe I made it through once.
I could never read LOTR again though. I can't believe I made it through once.
I have read LOTR twice. I have read The Hobbit an unknowable amount of times. My mom used to read the Hobbit to me before bed (A chapter or two per night, obviously not the whole book every night), then when I was old enough, we'd read it together, until eventually she didn't need to help me with any of the words and then I'd read it to myself.
It is probably one of the most personally defining things in my life, now that I think about it. I mean it got me into reading. I'm not a huge bookworm, but I definitely read more than anyone I knew in public school, and still more than like 90% of the people in high school. I'm sure there's a strong correlation between that and my good grades and my interest in the arts.
It is probably one of the most personally defining things in my life, now that I think about it. I mean it got me into reading. I'm not a huge bookworm, but I definitely read more than anyone I knew in public school, and still more than like 90% of the people in high school. I'm sure there's a strong correlation between that and my good grades and my interest in the arts.
I don't have a cool "coming into reading" story sadly. As with most things in my life, dinosaurs made me do it.
Tolkien wasn't really writing a novel, which sounds weird to say but it's true. He was trying to write a myth. LOTR reads more like the Iliad, Beowulf, or Gilgamesh than a modern novel.
I dunno, man. I dunno. Lord of the Rigns, really, sits somewhere inbetween, since it doesn't actually follow a pattern like Beowulf. Maybe that's why. It's like half and half, and for you it's the worst half of each.
Once again, I love the story.... just didn't like his writing style. That's just me.
As the beard pointed out... when I started reading Game of Thrones... that was MY LIFE for 4 months as I read the 5 books.
Let me put this bluntly... I'd rather read an entire Bran chapter than reading a page from Fellowship of the Ring.
As the beard pointed out... when I started reading Game of Thrones... that was MY LIFE for 4 months as I read the 5 books.
Let me put this bluntly... I'd rather read an entire Bran chapter than reading a page from Fellowship of the Ring.
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