[Mithalwen]

I cannot but help in finding some irony in the director who chopped up LOTR assuming an average audience IQ comparable to that of a houseplant thinks that the Hobbit is too simplistic...

While I wish JRRT had written a "grown up version" with the tone of "The Quest of erebor", I cannot see any excuse for stretching The Hobbit over 2 films other than greed. It is a slender volume and I think that even if you started with Gandalf meeting Thorin rather than his arrival at Hobbiton, it could be managed. If PJ does it as a prequesl to LOTR (rather than someone else doing it on its own terms) then it is perhaps logical to include the White COuncil and cameos for familiar faces. So much of the Hobbit is description that I am sure one film could manage, and there are elements that could be cut ...Beorn springs to mind.

However I think there is a danger that a PJ Hobbit might be formulaic... he seems to have moved on and maybe a new director would be more interesting.