The news of Peter Jackson's 'The Hobbit' being split into three films rather than two has both delighted and divided lots of fans over the past week. Fantastic news for those of us worried about whether or not we'd be able to take in everything we so desperately want to see without the Hollywood machine cutting and trimming the stuff fan boys and girls love so much about the source material (e.g. The missing Mr. Bombadil from the LOTR film trilogy). However, it remains worrisome for the folks who don't think the novel and appendices can successfully play out over a full trilogy, and poses an excellent question for the armchair screenwriter...how do they split this thing up, and where do they stick Smaug? As the climax of the second film? Do they save the Battle of Five Armies for the third?
Thomas Monteath at theonering.net has posed an interesting theory on how this may work, but has played down the golden dragon as a bit of a secondary villain, comparing him to Sauruman in the LOTR film trilogy. One thing's for sure, this debate is certain to keep super fans speculating over their Longbottom Leaf with possible theories for months to come.
What do you think? How would you split the story into three films instead of two...and where would you put Smaug?