I'll have to read the article, but I'm still flabbergasted that The Hobbit is going to be stretched into three movies. I was stunned when I heard it was going to be two. I hope there's not too much stuff that feels like filler. And if Jackson dips into the deep, often boring well of The Silmarillion for material, god help the general moviegoing audience.

Walt, I share your concern. "The Hobbit" [first edition] is 310 pages. "The Lord of the Rings" is nearly 5 times that length. The latter could sustain three movies. The former? Clearly this is in large part an economic consideration. This allows Warner Bros. to slot in "The Hobbit" for three dates, allowing three bites of the consumer apple, plus adds three titles to its library, not just one. Clearly, too, Peter Jackson must believe there is enough material to warrant three movies [I simply can't believe he would agree to make three movies simply based on financial considerations, he has to think there is an aesthetic argument as well]. We shall see...

I enjoyed his King Kong but it was way too long - over three hours - with unnecessary action set-pieces that were just silly. They could have cut an hour off the running time and it would have been a better movie. Let's hope that The Hobbit doesn't turn out that way - good but bloated.

What? What? What? The Hobbit is going to be three movies? In my opinion, that was the most dense and difficult books of the Lord of the Rings canon. I don't think there's any way they can sustain 3 movies. People might show up out of goodwill but not actual interest. But as Scott says, we shall see.

Ways for the Hobbit to fill three feature-length films: 10) Smaug polishes all the gold in his cave--twice. 9) Multiple scenes of Gollum playing checkers with himself. 8) Bilbo takes 1,137 baths throughout the series. 7) Sauron turns his castle upside down looking for the Ring while his wife leafs through a magazine and mumbles, "Where's the last place you had it?" 6) A montage of Bilbo training for the Quest as "The Eye of the Tiger" is played on a lute. 5) The dwarves get drunk and try to pick up 6-ft. tall Dunedain women, get repeatedly shot down. 4) Gandalf argues with a half-orc dry cleaner over a spot on his cloak, and launches into an incoherent 10-minute anti-orc racist diatribe. Has to settle for store credit. 3) 10-minute montage of dwarves tightening utility belts and headbands in close-up. 2) They have to enter and win "Middle-earth's Got Talent" in order to raise enough money for the quest. 1) The grass outside Bilbo's house grows in real time.

Walt, that is great. Do you mind if I use it as a GITS post? Funny stuff.

Sure!

One thing, I'm not sure why it turned my number 8 into a face with sunglasses but maybe you could clean that up when you post it? Thanks!