Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson seems to really enjoy confusing his audience. Though most people expected his film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” to be just one film, it was announced that it would be two films.

This was odd enough, being that The Hobbit is just one book, but this week, Jackson announced that a third movie based off of the story will be released in 2014. No one at this point can guess where the tale is going to go.

While many might assume that this move was studio-influenced, it might be surprising that the the push was actually made by Jackson himself, as MTV reports. There is the speculation by many that maximizing profits are involved, but this will be left to rumor.

Though Jackson maintains the positive reputation for staying generally loyal to Tolkien’s reputation, he has has not hidden that expansions will be made. In the case of continuous loyalty, there is enough writing left behind by Tolkien that an authentic tale can still be told.

While many are confident in the first film’s story, much controversy has arisen over Jackson’s decision to shoot the film at 48 frames per second, which many say makes it looks like a made-for-TV movie. Also, there is no guarantee that movie theater projectors will be able to handle this frame rate.

What looks to mirror how the release of the Lord of the Rings films went, the first film, An Unexpected Journey is slated for a December 14th release. December 13th of 2013 will bring in There and Back Again. The third installment, which does not appear to have a name (publicly known at least) is scheduled for summer of 2014.

Mike Lamardo is a new contributor to Indie Media Mag. His writing on entertainment and the music industry can be found on sites such as ZME Music, Music Think Tank, DX 3.net, as well as others.

photo: Pop culture Geek