Hobbit pics

[MarkB]

I also didn't see part 1 of the Harry Potter movie at release, but I'm intending to see both parts in succession if any of my local cinemas have the good sense to offer a double screening.

Whilst The Hobbit is shorter than its sequels, it is also more straightforward and less introspective, so there's plenty of material there for two movies. You could fill a movie just getting to Mirkwood, let alone getting through it and all that follows.

 

[Redrobes]

I was pretty sure that film 1 is The Hobbit as told by the whole of the book. Film 2 is a bridge between the times immediately after the end of The Hobbit and up to LotR and is a fictional piece made up from speculation and not scripted by direct writings of Tolkien - if you get my drift there. I may be mistaken but I have read this on several occasions. Whether all of Film 1 and part of Film 2 is the book I dunno tho...

EDIT - never mind - after looking for links I read that they have scratched the bridge idea and are indeed going for two films of just the book.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

EDIT - never mind - after looking for links I read that they have scratched the bridge idea and are indeed going for two films of just the book.

Thank goodness. I always felt that, though there is some good lore surrounding the Quest of the Lonely Mountain, most of the good stuff happened before and during the Hobbit, not after, so a bridge would not have worked well.

 

[RainOfSteel]

EDIT - never mind - after looking for links I read that they have scratched the bridge idea and are indeed going for two films of just the book.

They're going to have to dig deep to find enough material for two films. Where would the break point be? The Misty Mountains? Beorn?

 

[Relique du Madde]

Maybe the second movie is going to be...

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

They're going to have to dig deep to find enough material for two films. Where would the break point be? The Misty Mountains? Beorn?

I can think of three logical spots:

(1) The Misty Mountains, after the Eagles rescue, before Beorn

(2) After departing Beorn's for Mirkwood

(3) After the dwarves are taken by the elves in Mirkwood, but before Bilbo's rescue.

I'd personally vote for #3 ... with Bilbo watching the elves march the dwarves off ...

 

[Rune]

I can think of three logical spots:

(1) The Misty Mountains, after the Eagles rescue, before Beorn

(2) After departing Beorn's for Mirkwood

(3) After the dwarves are taken by the elves in Mirkwood, but before Bilbo's rescue.

I'd personally vote for #3 ... with Bilbo watching the elves march the dwarves off ...

I'd add one more possibility...

If the first movie ends with the death of Smaug, the second can focus entirely on the build-up to, and Battle of Five Armies. Obviously, that battle would have to be elaborated on, somewhat, but in all of your scenarios, Smaug is killed relatively early in the second movie.

 

[RainOfSteel]

After Smaug's death? There aren't many pages left in the book after that.

The amount of elaboration required will have to be substantial no matter which point is selected.

I guess I'm just not a movie maker, as it seems to me that there is literally nowhere in the book where it can be split in two and still have enough left for two movies (without that elaboration thing).

Hmm, I wonder. If they add in Gandalf's side-trip to Dol Guldur with the other Wizards, that would be totally worth it in the same way that the scene of Gandalf and the Balrog battling it out in The Two Towers was worth it.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I'd add one more possibility...

If the first movie ends with the death of Smaug, the second can focus entirely on the build-up to, and Battle of Five Armies. Obviously, that battle would have to be elaborated on, somewhat, but in all of your scenarios, Smaug is killed relatively early in the second movie.

I think you're misremembering the book a bit.

With those cuts above, the scenes would include, broadly:

(1) Beorn's house (option 1)
(2) Travel to Mirkwood, into Mirkwood, the black stream, Flies & Spiders (option 2)
(3) Capture by the elves
(4) Escape from the elf king's halls
(5) Arrival and recovery at Lake town
(6) Travel to the mountain
(7) Enterior exploration, discovery of the door
(8) Word games with Smaug
(9) Smaug smites mountain, flies to Lake Town, dies
(10) Party gets the treasure, fortifies
(11) Word arrives of Smaug's death
(12) The armies assemble
(13) Parley; Bilbo switches sides
(14) Elves & dwarves fight
(15) Goblins arrive
(16) Battle of the 5 Armies
(17) After battle
(18) Return home

Smaug's death isn't too early in the movie, nor is there too little remaining for afterward. I think Option 2 gives the best cut, frankly.

 

[MarkB]

They're going to have to dig deep to find enough material for two films. Where would the break point be? The Misty Mountains? Beorn?

The mid-point of the book, by page-count, is partway through Mirkwood (I happen to be re-reading it now), so you could split it anywhere in that section.

In terms of story composition, probably the best point to make the split would be either as they prepare to enter Mirkwood, or as they emerge.

To balance the amount of content, the former is probably the better choice, but thematically, the latter might be better - pack all of the journey into the first movie, end it with the sight of the Lonely Mountain in the distance as the barrels drift towards Laketown, then have the second part be all about the 'caper' of finding a way into the Lonely Mountain, and the events those actions precipitate.