Three Times The Hobbit?

[Inziladun]

I just saw this article today, which states that there is apparently a desire to have The Hobbit be released as a trilogy, rather than the expected two films.

The idea is said to be to add in data from the appendices in ROTK to "bridge the narrative gap" between TH and LOTR.

As the article also states, though:

Ever since the Warner Brothers (wisely) decided to split the seventh and final "Harry Potter" film into two, stretching out the final installment of similar adaptations has become de rigueur in Hollywood. The "Twilight" gang was the first to jump on the bandwagon, eagerly splitting up "Breaking Dawn" into two films. Did the story warrant such a treatment? Hardly. But the film made $700 million worldwide, so they're not complaining.

there may be another motive to it, if it happens. Cynic that I am toward the film industry, I suspect the second quote is right as to the driving force behind the notion of a trilogy.