Earlier today I found out that Peter Jackson, director of
The Lord of the Rings and the upcoming Hobbit double feature, is going to be
extending The Hobbit duel movies into a trilogy, which of course sent me into a
fit of nerd hysteria! I've been an amateur Tolkienite since I first stepped
into Middle-Earth when I was twelve years old and have since read the whole
collection twice and soon to be thrice. So when I heard that Jackson was
finally given the green light to start work on a Hobbit movie, I was overjoyed;
even more so when I found out that it was going to be a two part series.
However, even with two movies based on one book, I was already calculating in
my mind how much was going to be left out or squeezed to fit it all in. For
instance, trying to envision the mid-point where the first movie would end and
the second would begin was difficult to picture. Would it be at the house of
Beorn, or the escape from the elf-kings' hall?
Now that we know
there will be a third installment, here's how I believe the trilogy will flow:
The first movie will end when the eagles save Bilbo and the crew from the worgs
& goblins and deliver them to the Carrock. The second will pick up with the
introduction of Beorn and with the departure of Gandalf from the company. Now
Peter Jackson has said that there is going to be more emphasis on Gandalf &
the White Council's battle against the Necromancer, so a good chunk of the
second show will revolve, not just on Bilbo and the dwarves marching through the
dusky veils of Mirkwood, but also on the former, less mentioned, yet just as
important event Gandalf takes part in. The end of the second will be when Bilbo
busts the dwarves out of the fortress of the elf-king via barrels. Then finally
the third and final movie will pick up outside Esgaroth, the Lake-Town.
For those who believe that turning it into a trilogy was all
about the money, you are probably only half right. Of course the film corps
that are funding the movies are in it mostly for the money, but it was Peter
Jackson himself who asked Newline Cinema, MGM Pictures and Warner Bros. Studios
if he could extend and make a third. According to a couple of different
articles I read on the subject, Peter Jackson wants to add Hobbit lore written by
Tolkien that wasn't added into the published book, such as added lore concerning the dwarves of
Erebor, not only the fall but the rise of the Necromancer in Mirkwood, the
battle of Dol Guldur and more.
No matter which way you look at it, a Hobbit trilogy is a
good thing. If it was Peter Jackson who came up with the idea, is basing completely
on Tolkien's writings and enlarges the mythos of Middle-earth, the only thing
that could possibly surpass this in sheer awesomeness would be. . . A SIX PART SILMARILLION
SERIES! OH YEAH!!!!
