Ever since Peter Jackson announced that he’d be turning his two-part film into another trilogy, most people wondered how he would be able to stretch the material to actually do that. The director has made it known that he would be pulling from the 120 pages of appendices in The Lord of the Rings series to “pump up” the new trilogy, but just how he would structure it is unkown.
This new image from THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG features a familiar scene with Bilbo Baggins discovers the titular dragon’s lair (Smaug, as played by Benedict Cumberbatch), which is riddled with treasure. Although, some may see this as the end of the journey for the series, there’s still the matter of “The Battle of the Five Armies” to contend with, which it seems they are saving for the THE HOBBIT: THERE AND BACK AGAIN.
“The dragon is a huge, wonderful, amazing part of the story, but it doesn’t end there,” said screenwriter and producer Philippa Boyens. “Everyone can suspect there’s a rather large battle in film three.” As long as the third film in the series isn’t just a prolonged ending, much like the last half hour of THE RETURN OF THE KING, then I think we’re in good hands.
We also ran this first image from THE HOBBIT: THERE AND BACK AGAIN yesterday, featuring Luke Evans as Bard and Orlando Bloom back as Legolas, but I thought it appropriate to share it again with this story.
THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY is set to debut on December 14, 2012, with THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG following on December 13, 2013 and, lastly, THE HOBBIT: THERE AND BACK AGAIN bowing on July 18, 2014.