A great article posted over at Den of Geek provides some analysis of just whether there is enough material in The Lord of the Rings appendices to justify stretching The Hobbit out for three movies.
Warning: this article does contain potential spoilers if you are unfamiliar with The Hobbit and/or the contents of the appendices.
The conclusion can be read here:
“Sadly, the majority of the appendices are accounts of family trees, language, and calendar dates, so there’s little to mine there, unless Peter Jackson is planning on making a Middle-earth episode of Who Do You Think You Are. But is there enough from the points above to justify three movies? I trust Jackson a lot, especially in Tolkien’s world, but I do fear for the simple journey of Bilbo Baggins. That in itself is about a film’s length, so there is a very real danger of the extra material, as epic and cinematic as it undoubtedly is, proving far too much of a distraction.
Don’t get me wrong, I was the kid who always wanted to know more about the Necromancer and just what Gandalf was up to when I read the book, so to potentially see it on-screen is a dream come true ““ I just worry that it will be at the cost of the main journey, leaving a meandering film with a stilted narrative drive.
I really hope I’m wrong though, and will enjoy being proved so over the next few years.”