[Herald_of_Mandos]

Just heard about this! I'm so excited!!!

http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2013/07/01/666-jackson-lotr-sequels

Fans hooked on “An Unexpected Journey”, the Academy Award-nominated first installment of “The Hobbit”, may already be wondering how in Middle-earth they’re going to get their Tolkien fix after the series finally reaches its stunning conclusion– but there’s hope ahead!

Sir Peter Jackson announced today that he is planning a further trilogy of films set in the magical world created by J.K. Tolkien, Jr., beginning where “The Lord of the Rings” left off.

Apart from introducing fans to new– but authentic– characters such as hobbit-warrioress Elanor Gamgee and Aragorn’s rebellious son Eldarion, the sequels will also feature all the much-loved “Lord of the Rings” favourites.

“By the time we get around to filming, the cast are going to look a lot older than they did in ‘Lord of the Rings’,” Jackson admits, “which might be an issue with characters like Elrond, Legolas or Galadriel who are supposed to be immortal. But I’m confident the animation team will be able to handle that– they’re already hard at work on the CGI replicas.”

Dismissing concerns that the sequels might fall short of the standard of faithfulness to Tolkien’s work that has AUJ audiences raving, Jackson explains, “Look, we’re not just making this up out of thin air– I don’t know why anyone would think that. What people have to realise is that Tolkien himself always fully intended to continue the saga. In fact, he actually partly finished the next book in the series, ‘The New Shadow’.”

The sequel trilogy, detailing the adventures of Frodo, Sam and Aragorn’s children, and their struggle against evil as the Dark Lord Sauron once more threatens Middle-earth, was cut short by Dr Tolkien’s tragically early death. Fortunately, the author once again left extensive notes behind him in the form of “Appendices” to one of the editions of “The Return of the King”.

“They describe the future history of Middle-earth, what happens to all the characters in later life, and so on. There’s a whole lot of material there, and what we’ve done is to take that material and weave it together with the foreshadowing Tolkien put in 'Lord of the Rings' itself, for instance where Gandalf or Elrond talks about how evil will always return.

'There’s nothing, essentially, that isn’t based on Tolkien’s own writing.”

Despite widespread acclaim for “An Unexpected Journey”, which many critics place among the top three-quarters of movies for 2012, the director says there are some things he will do differently this time around.

“Not everyone was happy with the frame-rate– I now think myself that shooting at 48 fps may have been a mistake.

‘This time, it’ll be 96 fps.”