[davem]

Originally Posted by Encaitare

Entertainment Weekly article: Will Peter Jackson Make "The Hobbit"?

Ack, the "inventing new material" part makes me nervous. So much of the story's charm is in its simplicity.

Well, it won't be as the book - I expect something in the style of LotR, more 'adult' & serious. Hence the spirit of the book will be lost. I would assume that any backstory would have to avoid the storyline of Quest of Erebor & come up with a new one, as that material was not sold by Tolkien, & expect the Estate would sue over copyright.

Inventing new material is hardly an issue in light of LotR, where characters, motivations & storylines were altered willy nilly.

The most surprising thing as far as I'm concerned is that they're only going for two movies - aren't trilogies the thing these days?