Part 3 of The Hobbit to be split into 5 movies

Peter Jackson has announced that he will be splitting the final movie of The Hobbit series, "The Battle of Five Armies", into five separate full-length feature films. Jackson and Newline Cinema agreed to make the split after Jackson cited a need for more screen time.

"There was a lot of good footage we took that we didn't want to go to waste. We initially thought splitting 'The Battle of Five Armies' into 3 movies would have been enough, but we realized that the two new movies created were also not long enough, so we split those once again."

Bilbo's adventure will be longer than initially anticipated
(Image source: IMDb)

Fans of the book and movie series are not surprised by this decision, as they know Jackson's previous works in the Lord of the Rings series cutout a lot of extra footage.

"I love The Hobbit and I cannot wait to watch the last 5 movies," said one moviegoer. "I can't wait to give Newline Cinema more of my money!" said one ecstatic fan.

Initially created to cover Bilbo's relations with the dwarves and more from the novel, the new movies will expand upon the initial wishes of fans and followers of the book series. None of the movies have been given titles yet, but Jackson hints that the 4th movie of the new five part saga will have "surprises for book readers."