One Hobbit Good, Two Hobbits Bad

[Sauron the White]

So, Boro, don't fancy sitting through three hours of Bilbo hiding from his neighbours with the tense point being the death of Frodo's parents? Nor me. The Star Wars analogy is spot on.

I do not think that focus has a snowballs chance of being the second movie.
Sauron, Dol Goldur, and the Council throwing him out of Mirkwood is what I would put my money on. That is far more interesting than Bilbo doing just about anything you can think of.

[davem]

Originally Posted by Sauron the White

Sauron, Dol Goldur, and the Council throwing him out of Mirkwood is what I would put my money on. .

Yeah, yeah, yeah, a bunch of wizards & Elves take on an evil Dark lord & his Orkish minions & gain a great victory ...or so they think!

Maybe they could get Terry Brooks to write the screenplay?

Honestly, Tolkien had enough smarts to realise that that kind of nonsense was only deserving of an entry in Appendix B & then turn to something more interesting instead. You merely confirm my suspicions that this 'sequel/prequel' will be aimed purely at the fanboys & Leggyboppers. Bloated, dumbed-down nonsense. If that's it - a two-hour sfx fest aimed purely at re-stocking New Line's bare coffers - then it would be best if all concerned just made a Sword of Shannara movie.

However, I'll just get off this particular bus now......

[Sauron the White]

from davem

Yeah, yeah, yeah, a bunch of wizards & Elves take on an evil Dark lord & his Orkish minions & gain a great victory ...or so they think!

Maybe they could get Terry Brooks to write the screenplay?

Terry Brooks?!?!?!?!?!?
All these years I thought those ideas came straight from JRRTolkien himself?

Honestly, Tolkien had enough smarts to realise that that kind of nonsense was only deserving of an entry in Appendix B & then turn to something more interesting instead.

What were those things "more interesting" that JRRT turned to after he wrote LOTR? You know much more than I do about the literary career of JRRT davem, but I was under another impression - that after producing LOTR, there were a bunch of rather unproductive months which stretched into years where it was lots of dickering and niggling at the edges of stuff he had alread wrote years ago but could never finish it for some reason. Or maybe you are referring to his love of Patience and wine?

You merely confirm my suspicions that this 'sequel/prequel' will be aimed purely at the fanboys & Leggyboppers. Bloated, dumbed-down nonsense.

You praise me with great praise and I blush while thanking you. But really, do not let this humble servant confirm anything you may suspect. I know nothing about this and am only looking at reflections on the cave wall produced by a dimly lit campfire and my perspective is from rather far outside the cave and its rather a foggy night at that.

Is it possible to be so smugly superior and condescending about a film that does not yet even have an outline yet alone a script or cast? I beg your pardon for offering such a dumb question on my part.

However, I'll just get off this particular bus now......

Looking forward to your return..... especially when we have more than just speculation to discuss.

[Tuor in Gondolin]

Actually, (Hobbit II?) could be rather good if they
made the theme Strider's Bio. You could fudge his
age by 10 years to make the first Arwen/Aragorn
meeting take place during Bilbo's trek, and then feature
Strider at Dol Guldur with the White Council and
his early adventures in Rohan and Gondor and below
Gondor (an exciting raid on the Harbor of Umbar
could be a feature). And hints of animosity between
that young lad Denethor and disguised Aragorn,
(with Gandalf around)?

[Sauron the White]

Tuor - that would be an excellent idea.

[Lalwendë]

The point is that none of this would add anything to the story, even to the story as Peter Jackson sees it. Despite the flaws he introduced to the plot line and characterisation in the Rings films, he had at the end of it, a sound product with some integrity. Not Art, but very enjoyable nonetheless. He managed to pull off a Big Film because he already had the Big Story to use. That may work again with The Hobbit, but not with mere notes and scribblings to work with. And Jackson has more or less told us everything already anyway. So there is no point to this unless it's just to make more money as it will spoil what has already been done and what will be done in The Hobbit.

[Sauron the White]

Perhaps I am just a bit slower than others here or just do not have the experience that some others do with film since I have only been following it for five decades..... however, common sense seems to say that nobody can really know if a second film will be the greatest film in the history of the cinema or the worst thing since FREDDIE GOT FINGERED or GIGLI. Great movies have been made from holiday greeting cards. Anything is possible.

Some of this here is really spooky in fanatic sort of way. Some will concede that HOBBIT may be a good film since they have the book to go on. But there is no other book (for the second film) other than some shorthand version of events as jotted down by JRRT. So the conclusion is drawn that it is the book itself which will make or break the film.

An existing book written by JRRT = good movie.
Some ideas far short of a whole book from JRRT = bad movie.

First of all, somebody already made a TV film from HOBBIT and it certainly did not even come close to writing a new chapter in cinematic excellence. Second, really crappy books have been turned into good movies. FOREST GUMP comes to mind.
So why don't we wait and see before we start making announcements as if they came from the hieghts of Mt. Olympus?