Hobbit movie progressing

[Nerwen]

Originally Posted by Tuor in Gondolin

Judi Dench as Lobelia
Daniel Craig as Lotho.

Of course, neither are in The Hobbit but will that
stop PJ? Not hardly.

Ye-es... but having a Sackville-Baggins or two appear at the beginning and/or end would actually be okay, particularly if they keep the original ending– it's just the "show, don't tell" principle at work. So if they're going to do that (I haven't heard anything about it, though) it really wouldn't bother me. Similarly, you could legitimately show the White Council bit, at least briefly.

It's the rest of it– what they're trying to make, it seems, is not so much The Hobbit as it is Lord of the Rings: Part 0. Perhaps this was inevitable, after the success of the trilogy, but it's a pretty tall order when the book they're trying to adapt is only quite loosely connected to its sequel.