The Hobbit A Trilogy After All?

During Comic-Con 2012 director Peter Jackson was asked about all of the chatter that he had so much material that they could in fact stretch The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey/The Hobbit: There and Back Again films into a trilogy. 

At the time, Jackson told Hitfix that "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. I don't know what would come of that, whether it'd be extended editions or whatnot. But those discussions are ongoing."

For its part the studio quickly nixed the idea.

Now it seems this week Warner Bros, Jackson,Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens have all reportedly been exploring the notion of what it would take to make a third movie reports Heat Vision.

Talks have accelerated" to the point that the studio is fine with the idea so long as the financial and legal arrangements can be achieved. A source says “If we’re going to do it, we have to make a decision. It’s strongly driven by the filmmakers’ desire to tell more of the story.”

The move isn't a big surprise. By incorporating not just "The Hobbit" but Tolkien's extensive appendices published after The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, the filmmakers have been able to expand the story in considerable ways that even fitting everything into two films would have been a tough job.

Additional shooting for the second film was always going to be the case next year but should they go ahead with a third film then key cast and crew could reassemble for a longer 2-3 month stint next Summer in New Zealand which would allow Jackson to shoot the additional sequences he wants to incorporate.

Well Duhh!! If they do move ahead it means that for a fairly low additional cost the studio gets an entire extra film which is already mostly shot anyway, while audiences will get three movies of reasonable length instead of two loooong epics. There will be some re-writing and re-editing on Jackson's end.

What's the dowside?

While Warners has the money to spend, do they want to?  And more importantly there's the contractual issues - all the actors and crew signed on for two films which means all new deals will have to be inked.

The prequel sees Bilbo (Martin Freeman) travel on his journey with dwarves Thorin Oakshield (Richard Armitage) Bofur (Stephen Hunter), Bombur (James Nesbitt), and Bifur (William Kircher). Oin and Gloin (John Callen and Peter Hambleton) Jed Brophy as Nori, Adam Brown as Ori Mark Hadlow as Dori Balin (Ken Stott) and Dwalin (Graham McTavish)

Stephen Fry, Ryan Gage Benedict Cumberbatch Luke Evans Conan Stevens Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving Dean O'Gorman, Elijah Wood, Ian Holm, David Tennant, Barry Humphries., Lee Pace Bret McKenzie Orlando Bloom Billy Connolly Ian McKellen, former "Lost" actress Evangeline Lilly and Christopher Lee also star.

For now Journey will bow on December 14th 2012 while Again reaches cinemas on December 13th 2013.