The Hobbit to be made into a trilogy

After wrapping shooting last month, Peter Jackson dropped heavy hints that he had more than enough material to turn his two Hobbit movies into three.The heads of all three studios involved, MGM, Warner Bros and New Line, all issued statements soon after Jackson's supporting his creative vision.

From Peter Jackson's announcement on his Facebook page:

"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 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.’
We know how much of the story of Bilbo Baggins, the Wizard Gandalf, the Dwarves of Erebor, the rise of the Necromancer, and the Battle of Dol Guldur will remain untold if we do not take this chance. The richness of the story of The Hobbit, as well as some of the related material in the appendices of The Lord of the Rings, allows us to tell the full story of the adventures of Bilbo Baggins and the part he played in the sometimes dangerous, but at all times exciting, history of Middle-earth.
So, without further ado and on behalf of New Line Cinema, Warner Bros. Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Wingnut Films, and the entire cast and crew of “The Hobbit” films, I’d like to announce that two films will become three.
It has been an unexpected journey indeed, and in the words of Professor Tolkien himself, “a tale that grew in the telling.”
Cheers,
Peter J"

 Although the Hobbit is 320 pages long and lacks the depth and texture of its follow up, it looks as though additional material from the appendices, events that are quite different in tone and scope in order to bridge the narrative further into LotR.

It has already been indicated that additional scenes would be included such as revealing where Gandalf went off to when he left the group. It is likely we will have scenes of Gandalf battling the Necromancer (aka Sauron), an antagonist that threatens to unleash an army of darkness from a fortress deep within the forest of Mirkwood. The battle to oust Sauron from his fortress of Dol Guldur will likely form the basis of the new material Jackson plans to shoot, and will offer him the opportunity to connect The Hobbit more closely to his Lord of the Rings trilogy. It's quite possible that fans will see the fight sooner rather than later. Because The Hobbit already features an epic clash in its closing chapters, Jackson will want to avoid cramming the final film with too many battles.

The first film in the trilogy, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, will be released as scheduled this December. The second film, which was previously known as The Hobbit: There and Back Again, will be released a year later but under a new title. The third film is scheduled to appear in winter 2014.