A few weeks ago I wrote that there was a rumour that Peter Jackson was going to make three hobbit films rather than two. At the time it struck me as daft – given that the hobbit is a single book, making two films rather than just one seemed overkill. Yesterday it was confirmed a third film is to be made, and I must admit it seemed to make more sense: he has too much material to just put into two films. Moreover, I suppose you could have written the same of Lord of the rings: that is a single narrative which only ended up as three due to the printing restrictions of the fifties. PJ may have made a single film that, or two, as was the plan at one point. Then again, the hobit is shorter and more straightforward dramatically than it’s sequel, so it will be interesting to see what material he has mined from tolkien’s appendices and notes.