I was happy to hear this summer, from another fan of Peter Jackson's LOTR films, that his The Hobbit film would be done as a trilogy. I had read the four respective Tolkien novels, but was unfamiliar with much of the back story that could drive The Hobbit to become three new films.
This film moved at a brisk pace, introducing, and giving life, to the characters that I had long forgotten about (my bad!). I find myself eagerly awaiting the next two films.