I am unsure how to feel about this one.

In a recent chat event, Producer Peter Jackson and Director Guillermo del Toro talk about The Hobbit and another film which will TAKE PLACE BETWEEN THE HOBBIT AND LORD OF THE RINGS!

For those who may not know, there was never a book written to fill in the time between The Hobbit and LOTR. Now I have heard the rumors that they were making two films, but I guess I just assumed that they were splitting the hobbit into two movies or something…silly me.

Shane- Will the two movies be shot at the same time?

Guillermo del Toro- The idea is to shoot them “back to bacK” with a small break to breathe and to reconstruct certain sets and have time to reasses… But a schedule of a year is expecvted.

Peter Jackson- Hi Shane - Yes the movies will be shot back to back and the shooting of the movie will be driven by which actors are working with us at a given time and what locations we are in. For instance, if we are shooting hObbiton scenes for Hobbit movies we would also shoot Hobbiton scenes for F2. So during our year of filming we will be shooting both movies at the same time out of sequence.

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Ok, so here is the thing. I loved the LOTR movies. I consider them some of the best work that has ever been put to film. Peter Jackson accomplished the impossible when he brought Tolkien’s work to the silver screen and The Hobbit is going to be fantastic as well. Del Torro is one of the very best directors working today and I cannot wait to see his take on Middle Earth…

…But expanding the universe? This isn’t like Star Wars; an IP that started as a series of simple movies and is still being developed and written (and re-written) by its original creator. This is The Lord of the Rings. Arguably one of the greatest works of modern fiction. I am not sure anyone, even Peter Jackson, who’s films are so good that they have become cannon, has the right to mess with this universe. Especially when the creator is long dead and has no say in how his work is being treated.