Yes – Plural.
It had been previously rumored that there would be two movies, but that the second movie would span the gap between The Hobbit and FOTR.
Looks like the two moview will be The Hobbit, but with White Council and Dol Guldur in it.
http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=24610
Brian
Which makes me wonder if they’ll do a thrid movie for that span of time, thus making a pair of trilogies.
Could be cool. Hope they bring back the same actors as Gandalf and Elrond, and have a great ensemble as Thorin & Co. A brief look at the young Estel in Rivendell would warm the cockles of my heart, too.
For Bilbo: Martin Freeman (Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy), http://www.herr-der-ringe-film.de/v2/media/galerie/sonstiges10/HobbitFakePoster.jpg, or James McAvoy (Wanted and Becoming Jane), http://calamitykim.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/03/29/james_mcavoy.jpg.
God no. Key to the Hobbit is Bilbo emerging as the resolver of problems with no real expectation that Gandalf is coming back. Following Gandalf anxiously glancing north while helping the expulsion of Sauron from Dol Goldur basically telegraphs to the audience that Gandalf is coming back and will sort things out.
Besides I honestly can’t imagine how they plan on making Sauron’s retreat before the Wise dramatic enough to be interesting and not overwhelm Smaug.
Casting update from The Plain Dealer of Cleveland:
Trio returns for ‘Hobbit’
During an interview late last week, director Guillermo del Toro told BBC radio host Simon Mayo that three actors from the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy will appear in the prequel, “The Hobbit.”
Hugo Weaving, Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis will reprise their roles as the elf lord Elrond, the wizard Gandalf and the villainous Gollum, respectively.
No other casting has been announced. Del Toro, whose previous credits include the “Hellboy” films, wrote the script with “Rings” director Peter Jackson, and the trilogy’s co-writers Phillipa Boyens and Fran Walsh.
“The Hobbit” is set for release in 2012.
I hope they send a ship for Christopher Lee (who dislikes flying).
Question is will they have to use some CGI makeup (a la the 3rd X-Men movie, in which Sir Ian also had same applied to him) for two actors who are now ten years older than they were.
I wonder how del Toro will fit Ron Perlman into the cast. You know he will, too. Probably as Bard; that’s a suitably badass role in The Hobbit.
The company that does it is called Lola, and they have been doing their technique for ten years before they went public on X-Men. Their specialty had been “aging pop divas” (read: Madonna and Kylie). I’m wondering if they could use it to de-age Ian Holm to keep him as Bilbo?
I can’t see Perlman as Bard, myself.
He strikes me as more of a Beorn-type…
I had forgotten entirely about Beorn. That’ll do for him.
I love Perlman, but I’m greatly entertained by how much del Toro likes him. He’s even the reader for the audiobook version of del Toro’s new book The Strain.
Perlman could even be the Great Goblin, or the voice of Smaug, although I agree Beorn would be a good part for him.
I wish they’d introduce Del Toro as the director of Pan’s Labyrinth, not Hellboy. While the latter was good and all, it’s a different enough style from The Hobbit that it doesn’t really inspire confidence. I’m confident, though, that the director of Pan’s Labyrinth could do a good job.
I know what you mean, but more people are going to recognize Hellboy than Pan’s Labyrinth.
I haven’t even seen Pan’s Labyrinth myself, although The Strain sounds interesting and I’m looking forward to reading it. I’m about as confident in del Toro’s ability to tell a story as I am in Peter Jackson’s, which is decently high.
I’ll just slip in a slight hijack and say that I finished The Strain last night and found it to be pretty good.
The bitter lesson I was taught by Return of the King (and to a lesser degree by its dark cousin, The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe) was never to go to movies based on books I love. They only annoy me.
Yeah yeah yeah we know. You hated the films. As you never fail to mention in any thread about them. Most people liked them. I myself am very much looking forward to The Hobbit. I only wish Jackson was still directing it, he proved himself time and again on the first three. But I have hopes for Del Toro. “Pan’s Labyrinth” was great.
Having already decided, preemptively, to hate the movie :D, I will confess that I can see that. Beorn is pretty much a mix of Hellboy & Vincent, albeith with more money.
You mean honey? 
The hardest thing about making a Hobbit film is that the story is basically a rehash of elements we’ve already seen in LOTR. The Eagles, Wargs, Goblin’s, Gollum, The Shire, Rivendale, Elves, Giant Spiders, The Ring, Gandalf, Dwarves, Hobbits, Trolls etc. were all in the original films. Basically the only new elements are the Dragon and Beorn.
So I think it’s a good thing to have a new director with (hopefully), a new image of Middle Earth. I liked Jackson’s LOTR, but it was like 10+ hours long, I don’t really want to watch a film that’ll basically be more of the same with more dwarves.
