Jackson, Del Toro Change Hobbit Plans

The Hobbit Executive Producer Peter Jackson and Director Guillermo Del Toro have told Empire Online that they finalized their plans for the two Lord of the Rings prequel films. The preliminary plan was to release The Hobbit in December 2011 and a bridge movie between it and The Lord of the Rings trilogy in 2012. That has now changed.

“We’ve decided to have The Hobbit span the two movies, including the White Council and the comings and goings of Gandalf to Dol Guldur,” says Del Toro.

“We decided it would be a mistake to try to cram everything into one movie,” adds Jackson. “The essential brief was to do The Hobbit, and it allows us to make The Hobbit in a little more style, if you like, of the [LOTR] trilogy.”

So there you go. The second film will not, as had previously been suggested, a film that will bridge the 60-year gap between The Hobbit and the start of Fellowship Of The Ring.

What this means for previous Lord of the Rings actor reprising their roles is unknown but I am thinking most will not be returning. At this point it seems Andy Serkis (Gollum) and Sir Ian McKellen (Gandalf) are the only core actors needed for this new plan. I wonder how much finances played a part in the decision as the cast being left out would have likely asked for a hefty sum of money to reprise their various roles.