Right before Comic-Con 2012 began in San Diego last week, director Peter Jackson wrapped principal photography on The Hobbit films in New Zealand and released an awe-inspiring panoramic poster for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey on his way to Comic-Con.
One of the more interesting tidbits to emerge from Jackson’s appearance at Comic-Con was his hinting at the possibility of the second installment of The Hobbit, The Hobbit: There and Back Again, becoming two films, rounding out a trilogy of films for this installment of The Lord of the Rings mythos.
In an interview with HitFix, Jackson explained that he’s in talks with Warner Bros. on what is possible for the second film and also about filming Tolkien’s appendices:
“That’s a discussion we’re having, yeah. We have certainly been talking to the studio about some of the material we can’t film, and we’ve been asking them so we can do a bit more filming next year. Which, I don’t know what would come of that, whether it’d be extended editions or whatnot. But those discussions are ongoing.
I’d like to shoot a bunch more material that we [couldn’t] shoot. There’s so much good stuff in the appendices that we haven’t been able to squeeze into these movies.”
The Hobbit has already taken about nine months to film, but what LOTR fan wouldn’t mind extra footage to flesh out the Tolkien universe? We’ve been spoiled by Jackson’s standard (and quantity) of special features!
Synopsis:
“The Hobbit” follows the journey of title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor, which was long ago conquered by the dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakensheild. Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Giant Spiders, Shapeshifters and Sorcerers.
Although their goal lies to the East and the wastelands of the Lonely Mountain first they must escape the goblin tunnels, where Bilbo meets the creature that will change his life forever… Gollum.
Here, alone with Gollum, on the shores of an underground lake, the unassuming Bilbo Baggins not only discovers depths of guile and courage that surprise even him, he also gains possession of Gollum’s “precious” ring that holds unexpected and useful qualities… A simple, gold ring that is tied to the fate of all Middle-earth in ways Bilbo cannot begin to know.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is slated to hit theaters on December 14, 2012.
The Hobbit: There and Back Again is slated to hit theaters on December 13, 2013.
The films star Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis, Richard Armitage, Cate Blanchette, Elijah Wood, Hugo Weaving, Sylvester McCoy, Aidan Turner , Graham McTavish, John Callen, Ken Stott, Mikael Persbrandt, Ryan Gage, Jed Brophy, William Kircher, Stephen Hunter, Ian Holm, Stephen Fry, Ryan Gage, Conan Stevens, Orlando Bloom, Luke Evans, Evangeline Lilly, Barry Humphries and Benedict Cumberbatch.
