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'The Hobbit' News: Third Film Sets 2014 Release Date; Second Film Changes Title

By: Sean OConnell on August 31, 2012 at 5:30PM Comments (15)

 

It has only been a few weeks since Peter Jackson confirmed that his two-part adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s slim novel The Hobbit would be broken into three parts. It was rumored that the third segment of Jackson’s second trilogy would arrive in Summer 2014. Now we have an official release date. 
 
The third Hobbit film, subtitled There and Back Again, will open in theaters on July 18, 2014, according to THR. That’s the slot Warner Bros. has relied on for Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies (which, at last check of the box office receipts, works very well). 
 
In addition, the trade says that Jackson has changed the name of the second planned Hobbit film from There and Back Again to The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
 
“We wanted to have a shorter gap between the second and third films. Opening in July affords us not only the perfect summer tentpole, but fans will have less time to wait for the finale of this epic adventure," said Warner Bros. president of domestic distribution Dan Fellman.
 
For those keeping score at home, here is the official rundown of Jackson’s anticipated Hobbit adaptation: 
 
- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Dec. 14, 2012)
 
- The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Dec. 13, 2013)
 
- The Hobbit: There and Back Again (July 18, 2014)
 
Martin Freeman leads Jackson’s latest jaunt through Middle Earth, though he’ll be joined by Ian McKellan, Andy Serkis, and an army of dwarves spanning three fantastical fantasy films. 
 
What do you think? Are you happy Jackson has spread his story across three films? Or is he stretching the material in an effort to replicate his Lord of the Rings success? Share your thoughts with us below!
 
Follow along on Twitter @Sean_OConnell and @Fandango

Tags: The Hobbit, Peter Jackson

Categories: Fanboy Fix

Comments (15)Leave a Comment

  • Sep 14th 2012 8:31PM

    789285153  said...

    I think PJ will make it awesome no matter what. the packaging involved in a 3 movie set is making me groan after all the iterations of LOTR. I hope they learn their lesson there. That being said. Do a page count: LOTR total page count : 1008-1347 depending on whether you include appendices and such. the Hobbit: 297-320 depending on edition This is ultimately the gripe. I realize they are different stories, and technically you CAN go as deep as you want. You could make one movie, or 10. The question is, where's the sweet spot for interest. They have proven they can get outstanding numbers with a trilogy. I belive two movies would have been better. But I'm not Peter Jackson. I have to give him credit.......

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  • Sep 14th 2012 8:30PM

    789285153  said...

    I think PJ will make it awesome no matter what. the packaging involved in a 3 movie set is making me groan after all the iterations of LOTR. I hope they learn their lesson there. That being said. Do a page count: LOTR total page count : 1008-1347 depending on whether you include appendices and such. the Hobbit: 297-320 depending on edition This is ultimately the gripe. I realize they are different stories, and technically you CAN go as deep as you want. You could make one movie, or 10. The question is, where's the sweet spot for interest. They have proven they can get outstanding numbers with a trilogy. I belive two movies would have been better. But I'm not Peter Jackson. I have to give him credit.......

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  • Sep 6th 2012 8:59AM

    jewl5  said...

    I think it’s a money grab, pure and simple. He took one of the densest trilogies in literature and crammed them into three movies and now he is dragging out the lighter Hobbit? There is no way to defend three movies for this book; two would have done it perfectly. As for always complaining that book to movie adaptations loose detail, well yes they do. Movie directors seem to be incapable of depicting sub-plots and developing rich “minor” characters or even fully developing the world they create. Repeatedly in film we are given worlds that only contain our main characters, do people not exist outside the main group? Film makers also have a bad habit of arrogantly changing the plot to “make it better” or “appeal to a wider audience.”

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  • Sep 4th 2012 3:50PM

    1299378152  said...

    I love the idea of his digging into Tolkien's work and extracting its full richness for the cinema. The problem I have with the idea is the comparison with his treatment of the Lord of the Rings. It's a hard to swallow him making three movies out of The Hobbit after seeing how he squeezed, chopped, folded, and stuffed to get the other books manhandled into three movies only. If he is so doggone Tolkien-happy now, he should have started out with The Hobbit, made two movies out of it, and then gone on to make one or two movies out of each of the trilogy books, after he saw how much the audience fell in love with his rendition of Middle Earth. When you see how much celluloid he's willing to spend now, the other movies disappoint in comparison.

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  • Sep 4th 2012 10:06AM

    651312412  said...

    I'd prefer two longer movies. LOTR is incredibly larger than The Hobbit. To put it in perspective, the audio book version of The Hobbit has 10 CDs, while LOTR has 46. If he does it right, it won't matter, though to do that he has to add in things that were not written in the book, but spoken of briefly or hinted at. I'm waiting with baited breath! I trust in PJ. I hope he doesn't let us down!

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  • Sep 4th 2012 7:29AM

    100001183324723  said...

    To me it depends on what Jackson does with the material. If he takes the time to actually delve in and really get deep into the book it could be great like The Fellowship of the Ring and The Return go the King. If he decides to insert his own story line a la The Two Towers it could become painful to watch.

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  • Sep 3rd 2012 1:47PM

    DougRobNYC  said...

    I agree that by splitting the Hobbit into 3 films, close attention can be played to some of the sub-characters. The book is rich which so many plots. I can't wait to see the films. Jackson is a genius!

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  • Sep 2nd 2012 7:06PM

    mattfan12059  said...

    I just finished reading The Hobbit a couple days ago and I feel like it is a two part movie (Its called The Hobbit or There and Back Again). But I have hope that Peter Jackson will work and try his best to make all three of them great!

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  • Sep 2nd 2012 1:57PM

    Jimbo2K5  said...

    To quote Bilbo: "I feel like butter over too much bread". Even two films is ambitious, now he's going to pull story and characters from thin air to stretch it to 3. I think I might actually pass this time.

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  • Sep 2nd 2012 10:19AM

    ryster  said...

    I have read the book and it is not big compared to the other Lord of the Rings. I am very upset that Peter Jackson is spreading it out to three movies. I do not mind two movies but three movies, come on. Now you are really dragging out the story. There is no reason to make a trilogy set of The Hobbit. It is all about making money and I know Peter Jackson is creative, why can he think of something original without making a remake. I know there are great books that still need a movie version. Use that idea or be creative.

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  • Sep 1st 2012 7:51PM

    Lotrreadrd  said...

    Since PJ is a master of movie making and there's plenty of Tolkien writing to delve into during the hobbit era, it totally deserves three movies. I say bring on a five to six movie Silmarillion also!

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  • Sep 1st 2012 12:45PM

    1733031980  said...

    love it :) and hey... with this cast and director, anything else would be depriving the world

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  • Sep 1st 2012 11:28AM

    1452259204  said...

    I guess the "Battle of Five Armies" will be greater. That will need more time, I suppose... Generally though, I would have thought that TWO movies would be enough; however, since this is our last Hobbit movie...let's just enjoy it a little longer.

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  • Aug 31st 2012 8:11PM

    SciFiFantasyActionFan  said...

    I'm very happy to see tLess things from the book will be cut out.

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  • Aug 31st 2012 5:44PM

    fatdubs  said...

    I think it's a great thing to have split The Hobbit into three movies. Everyone always complains that books adapted to movies loose much of their detail. Well, finally instead of turning a book series into one movie there is going to be one book turned into three more descriptive movies that can explore the whole story in greater detail.

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