Musings on the upcoming Hobbit Movie

I'm a huge Middle-Earth fan, I've been giving quite a bit of thought on the upcoming Hobbit movies. Now, for quite a while there, it looked like the second movie was going to 'bridge' the timeframe between the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings... certainly there was a great deal of potential there. Fortunately, they've just decided to split the book in two instead. Now the chapters for The Hobbit look like this:

[1] An Unexpected Party
[2] Roast Mutton
[3] A Short Rest
[4] Over Hill And Under Hill
[5] Riddles in the Dark
[6] Out of the Frying Pan into the Fire
[7] Queer Lodgings
[8] Flies and Spiders
[9] Barrels Out of Bond

[10] A Warm Welcome
[11] On the Doorstep
[12] Inside Information
[13] Not At Home
[14] Fire and Water
[15] The Gathering of the Clouds
[16] A Thief in the Night
[17] The Clouds Burst
[18] The Return Journey
[19] The Last Stage

Now there are several potential 'climaxes' for the first movie: escaping Gollum, death of Smaug, etc. It was my father who first suggested what now seems obvious to me... What chapter is half-way thru the book? Why Barrels Out of Bond, of course. Bilbo saves the company from imprisonment by the elves by use of his wits. Here the book also transitions from getting to Smaug to dealing with Smaug. Arriving at Laketown is a great place to begin the 2nd movie. And if an Elvish prisonbreak isn't exciting enough, at the exact same time Gandalf and the White Council are driving the Necromancer (aka Sauron) from Dol Gulder in Mirkwood!

Which brings me to my other source of glee: del Toro is going into all the backstory! And what a backstory. The fall of Moria, the war of Orcs and Dwarves, the fates of Thorin's father and grandfather, Aragorn as a kid, Prince Legolas and his father, Saruman leading the White Council, Gloin the father of Gimli, and how the Quest is ultimately about preventing an alliance between Sauron and Smaug. Tons of material to draw from, especially from the appendices from LotR.

Something to think about.


Lurker