Here Comes the Hobbit

News today that Peter Jackson will be executive producing The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien's book that preceded the Lord of the Rings. You can read stories here and here.
Apparently, there are going to be two movies made.

Here's what's interesting, The Hobbit is half the length of any of the three books that for The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, yet they are going to make 2 movies out of the one book. Anybody else hear the cash register ringing?


One story reports...

Jackson and Walsh envisioned the first film covering the events of "The Hobbit" and the second bridging the 80-year gap between that novel and the first "Lord of the Rings" book.

Most Lord of the Rings nerds and Tolkien purists (of which I would call myself a novice) were very pleased at the level of loyalty Jackson showed to the books. There are plenty of appendices and stories that are highlighted in the 80-year gap, but I'm not sure how they're going to make a movie on actual stories that have been supplied by Tolkien. Personally, I would not enjoy a movie that is not based on any books.

Nontheless, I'm pretty pumped, and I'll be watching theonering.net over the next couple of years as directors and actors are announced, storyline theories run wild, and the geeks of the world unite!