Director Peter Jackson adds 3rd film, 'The Hobbit' now a trilogy

Lovers of the 3 films in 'The Lord of the Rings' series will be happy to hear that director Peter Jackson is taking a similar approach to 'The Hobbit'. Jackson revealed on Monday that he will also be telling that story in 3 films.

“It has been an unexpected journey indeed, and in the words of Professor Tolkien himself, ‘A tale that grew in the telling’,” Jackson posted on his Facebook account. He'll have the first film in the series out on December 14, 2012 and the second a year later on December 13th. No word on a release date for the third. The Hobbit: Three movies He detailed his reasons for turning what had been planned to be two films into three: "It is only at the end of a shoot that you finally get the chance to sit down and have a look at the film you have made. Recently Fran, Phil (writers Fran Walsh and Phillipa Boyens) and I did just this when we watched for the first time an early cut of the first movie - and a large chunk of the second. "We were really pleased with the way the story was coming together, in particular, the strength of the characters and the cast who have brought them to life. All of which gave rise to a simple question: do we take this chance to tell more of the tale? And the answer, from our perspective as the filmmakers, and as fans, was an unreserved ‘yes.'" The Hobbit series will have a large cast including Elijah Wood, Cate Blanchett, Martin Freeman, Ian McKeelen, Billy Connolly, Evangeline Lilly and Orlando Bloom.