Cue Howard Shore's triumphant Fellowship theme...

After the rumours that abounded during this year's San Diego Comic Con festival, Warner Bros. and New Line have resolved all of those niggle little legal issues to create a third instalment of J. R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. This final installment will be set for release on the big screen during the summer of 2014, but there is no specific date - obviously.

Peter Jackson, interviewed promoting the hairy-footed outing, did mention that there's plenty of additional content created during the filming of the first two installments of The Hobbit. For such a short book, a slight sliver of a book compared to the massive tome of The Lord of the Rings, it seems a bit of a push to make two movies, let alone three, however if anyone knows how to milk the great cash-cow, it's Peter Jackson, with a long line of extended additions and formats of the critically acclaimed saga.

The principal photography was completed at the start of July 2012, but there's lots of secondary filming and of course the mountain of post-production to wade through. So it sounds like The Hobbit was a life-changer for the cast of The Hobbit as for that of The Lord of the Rings. A logistical challenge, though, for production planning and actors' schedules, no doubt.

A few years ago it seemed unlikely that The Hobbit would ever be made. However, the power of all the revenue to come from the continuation of the Tolkien and Jackson behemoth must have felt like a Balrog in the Hollywood bean-counters' trousers. How could they resist?

Jackson will not disappoint. The details geeks should get ready for 'Hobbit heaven' as he will be referring to Tolkien's extensive notes and appendices that will no doubt help to make The Hobbit a transmedia and merchandising monster follow-up.

So the fans are happy, Peter Jackson is happy, and of course it shows the other Hollywood producers and financiers that it pays to put effort into movie ventures. Perhaps it's a lesson in taking risks, or perhaps it's a lesson in betting on a sure winner? Who cares? We wants it!

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is set for release 14th December 2012, with the first sequel, The Hobbit: There and Back Again, expected to hit the screens on 13th December 2013, followed by the second sequel in summer 2014.

Variety

See also:

The Hobbit has wrapped principal photography; still five months to wait for movie

A purist's defense of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings screenplay

Why Tolkien should make room for Dickens

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