1.) Hobbit adaptation, just like the vast majority wanted CHECK!

2.) PJ gets to "embellish (see: invent)" another Tolkien story CHECK!

Holy Mother of Luthien Tinuviel but this is exciting news!

The best part of the deal is that Jackson will be filming both movies at once. Excellent.

Sorry about the caps folks but I just had to get PJ's attention.

I'm up for the extended edition box set that matches my LOTR sets.

Good news.

That way, both the childlike fairy tale aspects of the Hobbit could be retained in a more LOTR-feeling movie.

Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen both looked very good in the past sequence of X-Men 3.

I think PJ will do fine but I just hope they don't inject the story with their own sensibilities and changes so much like they did in LOTR. The Arwen/Frodo scene was terrible and took away from what it should have been, Frodo using what strength he had left and all of his will to escape the Black Riders. There also should have been elements of horror with them calling out to him to come back. I think that was the biggest jump the shark moment of LOTR but the rest of it was great, with some ugh scenes here and there. I'm looking forward to this.

You know, when Rankin-Bass pulls off a more faithful adaptation, you might want to rethink your priorities.

Deathly Hallows is going to be hurt by how they handle the Riddle scenes. If they keep them in, it's going to break up the flow of the movie; if they modify them, it'll get the purists hackles up.

Hobbit, on the other hand, they're not even attempting to be faithful to so they can do whatever they want to make it cinematic, and it'll have been seven years since the last one.

Anyone else think the mess that was Spiderman 3 put an permanent end to all of that noise?

It's good to have P.J back at the helm. Now, I hope these new films are closer in quality to LOTR than King (snore, stretch, yawn) Kong.

...but it had it's moments...

For that reason, I'm thinking an unknown would be the best bet, but then I'm also a big fan of Peter Jackson's casting greats like McKellan and Christopher Lee in key roles.

So how about another old-school Hammer actor or someone with some great British film cred? It's SOOO disappointing that Oliver Reed is dead, because he would have been fucking PERFECT as Smaug.

In his stead, I suppose Brian Blessed would be a pretty fucking awesome Smaug.

Think about it. Blessed's not that well-known in the States, and he has an incredible voice. If you're not going to cast him as Thorin, then the obvious choice is as Smaug.

Warner Brothers Execs, do we have to go through all the trouble of killing George Miller's JUSTICE LEAGUE fiasco just so we can get the solo movies of WONDER WOMAN and THE FLASH back or a GREEN LANTERN trilogy based on "Rebirth/The Sinestro Corps War/The Blackest Night"? Because we will. Gladly.

I'm tellin' you-- Brian Blessed all the way.

In light of how brief and sometimes-offensive the feminine parts of the books were, Fran Walsh's additions were necessary to draw modern viewers into the story-- Especially women. If Tolkien's idea of Arwen were presented on screen, she'd have been a flat, uninteresting, almost insultingly stereotypical character relegated to being a footnote in the battle.

While I normally like a filmmaker to stick with the source material, I do think that Walsh's updates gave these movies a little more sensitivity and heart, and moved them away from the near-misogynistic writing Tolkien offered in his books.