Following the success of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings films, which grossed nearly $3 billion worldwide, and combined with the anticipation of the upcoming Hobbit films, many are now wondering: Will The Hobbit be an even bigger success?
When asked by E! News at the premiere of Happy Feet Two, Elijah Wood, who will reprise his role as Frodo Baggins in The Hobbit, said, “I don’t even know if they’re meaning to outdo them. They’re gonna be big. The audience is huge. The anticipation for The Hobbit has been so massive for so long.”
He also discussed the inclusion of characters who do not appear in Tolkien’s original story – Frodo, Galadriel, and Legolas, for instance – and how they would be written into the films.
“The idea is that there are things actually happening historically at the same time the story of The Hobbit is taking place, they just weren’t written in The Hobbit,” Wood said. “They were written in appendices and external pieces…that’s kind of where a lot of that is coming from.”
“It’s going to feel like a nice transitional piece. I think it’s going to be a great amalgam of a fresh new approach with places we’ve never been before in Middle-earth mixed with things that are very familiar to us. It will be a beautiful transition. I’m excited about it. I can’t wait.”