In order to help develop the different plot strands the appendices information on the Rohirrim will be referred to so to help develop the Beornings and Bardings because of their relationship with the Rohirrim. Also, the appendices information on the Gondorians will be referred to so to help develop the Esgarothians because of their relationship with the Gondorians. Meanwhile, the appendices information on the Orc and Dwarves war will be referred to so to help explain their relationship with each other. Also, the appendices information on the Dwarves’ relationship with the Rohirrim will be referred to so to help explain their relationship with the Beornings and the Bardings. And information in the Lord of the Rings that didn’t make it into the Lord of the Rings movies on the Dwarves relationship with the Elves will make it into the Hobbit movies as well as information in the Lord of the Rings book on Hobbits and maybe even on Aragorn’s people in the north that didn’t make it into the Lord of the Rings movies to help develop these things as well. That should give a lot of information to help flesh out the movies.

I also think that the first movie may begin with a prologue spoken by Galadriel that shows things that didn’t occur in the prologue of the Lord of the Rings such as Anatar helping the Elven-smiths with creation of the Rings, becoming Sauron when he makes his own Ring, the Three Rings actually being given to Gil-galad, Cirdan and Galadriel by the Elven-smiths, Gil-galad being thrown to his death at the battle where the Ring was taken by Sauron’s mace and him giving his ring to Elrond as he lays dying, an off-screen Isildur taking the Ring off an on-screen Sauron, the Ring then seen falling to the bottom of the river, Greenwood becoming Mirkwood, Sauron being seen in DolGuldur, the Istariarriving at the Grey Havens and Cirdan giving his ring to Gandalf, Deagol’s hand picking up the Ring from the bottom of the river, the White council meeting for the first time, an off-screen attack by Smaug on an onscreen Lonely Mountain, Thror, Thrain and Thorin leading the Dwarves away from the Mountain, an old Bilbo with Frodo at Bag End. Meanwhile, the second movie could open with a more detailed attack on Dale and the Lonely Mountain by an onscreen Smaug in all his might and more detail of the escape of the Dale Men and the Dwarves. And the third movie could open with a detailed history of the Dwarves in exile from leaving the Lonely Mountain to Gandalf meeting Thorin at Bree, which could introduce Dain killing Azog in the battle outside Moria in the Dwarf-Orc war.

First, look at the Appendices themselves, as TORn helpfully did last week, and you see that a) there isn’t THAT MUCH extra material; and b) most or all of it (Azog, Thrain, etc.) was already going to be incorporated in the films.

Second, what we DON’T have is the announcement of a new shooting schedule, other than the always-planned pickups, OR a bunch of new contracts being negotiated and signed with the current principals to extend their commitment, or with new actors (Viggo, Liv, the Blue Wizards?) to shoot newly-conceived of scenes which would still need to be scripted, prepped, shot, and finished for a summer 2014 release.

What I see here is a story of PJ, Fran, and Philippa looking at a rough cut of the footage they have shot ALREADY–taking a hard look at stucture, and counting up the minutes that need to be cut in order to satisfy New Line Cinema’s tolerance for theatrical running times.
Sure, they could follow the LOTR approach, cut what they have to the bone, and then release definitive extended edition DVDs later with hours of additional material (complete with expensive post-production work never-to-be-screened theatrically). OR….. why not cut A LOT LESS by just restructuring into three films! Especially if, now that you look at it, there is a natural stopping point here and a climax there–and then we can justify the budget and time to really finish THIS key sequence properly which might otherwise land on the cutting room floor, because of the need to turn over theaters and sell maximum tickets during opening weekend.

So–I see this as no radical change of plan, just a consequence of PJ being an undisciplined flimmaker–in a good way!–and the team discovering that it already has too much of an embarrassment of riches for two movies and a more natural trilogy in the can already.