[TheMisfortuneTeller]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

Some books just aren't meant to be movies. They weren't made to become movies. When it comes to those, it's better not to make any movie at all than to do what PJ&others are doing with TH (and what has been done with LOTR).

On the contrary, The Hobbit follows the standard formula of the monomyth -- There and Back Again -- as described by Joseph Campbell in The Hero with a Thousand Faces:

[No matter what tale we hear told, in no matter what language or culture] “... it will be always the one, shape-shifting yet marvelously constant story that we find, together with a challengingly persistent suggestion of more remaining to be experienced than will ever be known or told.”

“The standard path of the mythological adventure of the hero is a magnification of the formula represented in the rites of passage: separation—initiation—return: which might be named the nuclear unit of the monomyth.

A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.”

If you can't make a movie out of that timeless tale, then you can't make a movie out of anything. No. The issue doesn't involve making a movie out of the standard heroic adventure -- countless film-makers have done that and will continue doing that -- but rather, making the movie well. The danger here lies in trying to blow up the central narrative of Bilbo Baggins' adventure into a sprawling amalgamation of sub-plots and marginal characters designed specifically to lure various consumer-demographics into the theater (and nearby toy stores) on the "tent-pole" presumption that each age-group and gender tribe will want to see -- and consume products related to -- certain celebrities famous for their fame.

In the case of The Hobbit, trying to make two mega-movies out of material properly suitable for only one, at best, can do little but bloat the essential story beyond recognition. In trying to adapt The Lord of the Rings to film, Peter Jackson had too much material for only three movies -- an embarrassment of riches. In trying to adapt The Hobbit, he has barely enough material for one -- and should pridefully protect such priceless poverty.