We know how much of the story of Bilbo Baggins, the Wizard Gandalf, the Dwarves of Erebor, the rise of the Necromancer, and the Battle of Dol Guldur will remain untold if we do not take this chance.  The richness of the story of The Hobbit, as well as some of the related material in the appendices of The Lord of the Rings, allows us to tell the full story of the adventures of Bilbo Baggins and the part he played in the sometimes dangerous, but at all times exciting, history of Middle-earth.

So, without further ado and on behalf of New Line Cinema, Warner Bros. Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Wingnut Films, and the entire cast and crew of “The Hobbit” films, I’d like to announce that two films will become three.  

It has been an unexpected journey indeed, and in the words of Professor Tolkien himself, "a tale that grew in the telling."

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I'm not a fan of this. It seems the strategy these days for every best-selling-book-cum-movie is to take the last book in the series, split it into two films, and rake in another film's worth of box office returns. I can understand the business rationale, but as a viewer, I'm disappointed by this strategy.

If I genuinely believed studios were doing this solely for creative reasons -- and not to milk a property for more returns -- I might feel differently.

At any rate, this is a good problem to have.

Would you rather watch two 3.5 hour movies or three 2.5 hour movies?

The former. I mean, if creatively it'd be better to extend the format, perhaps doing an HBO mini-series might be more worthwhile. That's what makes Game of Thrones so great -- instead of struggling to condense a book's worth of content into a movie, they can spread the content over 10 episodes.

Too expensive to do as a miniseries: http://pandawhale.com/convo/3057/a-song-of-ice-and-fire-you-done-yet-george-r-r-martin-t-shirt?comment=11121

Only a movie can get that kind of up front money.

So it's about money, not about creativity? Waiting is exactly right. Why wait 3 years for 3 movies about one book? Seems odd. I think I'm in the minority, though. Other reactions ive seen have cheered the trend. To me, it reeks of milking profits.

Yes, it's about money.

From money comes power.

With great power comes great responsibility.