We first reported on this back during Comic-Con weekend, but it wasn't the first time the story had reared its head. We're talking about the rumours that The Hobbit could be divided still further.
Thus far, The Hobbit is being broken into two films by Peter Jackson and his team. The first, An Unexpected Journey, arrives in cinemas this December, and the second, There And Back Again, is due at the end of 2013. Now it seems there are plans afoot to release a third, presumably at the end of 2014.
During Comic-Con, it appeared that Warner Bros had ruled this out. But it's looking increasingly likely that this is actually going to happen after all. The Hollywood Reporter is saying that Warner Bros, Peter Jackson, producer Fran Walsh and writer-producer Philippa Boyens "began exploring the logistics of what it would take to make another movie".
Furthermore, "these talks have accelerated in recent days, with the studio on board if the right financial arrangements can be achieved. That includes securing new actor deals for the expansive cast as well as shoring up certain rights associated with the property".
Jackson has said a week or two back that he was interested in filming "some of the material we can't film", digging into the appendices, which thus far "we haven't been able to squeeze into the movies".
Extra filming would be needed, and presumably the plan is effectively to split There And Back Again into two films. However, this isn't a studio driving to make more out of its properties in this case. "It's strongly driven by the filmmakers' drive to tell more of the story".
Warner Bros isn't formally commenting this time. We think there might be something to this. We'll keep you posted...
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