"The Hobbit" Will Be Three Movies

Peter Jackson has confirmed that "The Hobbit" will go from being two films to a trilogy; with the originally-announced first two debuting over the next two Xmas seasons and the third hitting Summer 2014.

Details are vague, but supposedly this has been spurred by the material added (mostly "what was going on elsewhere in Middle Earth" from the LOTR appendices) to "flesh out" the events of the existing two films and tie things more directly to the events/characters that Tolkien later placed before and after Bilbo's main adventure.

Whether or not that means "Hobbit 2" gets longer with the "traditional" ending still happening in Part 3 or if the third film will be the often-discussed "bridge film" to LOTR remains to be seen.