Filmmaker Peter Jackson has said he will stretch the originally planned two-part epic "The Hobbit" into a trilogy.

Many "Hobbit" fans were excited or worried when Peter Jackson announced on Monday, July 30 that he will stretch the originally planned two-part adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's epic fantasy-adventure "The Hobbit" into a trilogy, something unexpected for the public.

"On behalf of New Line Cinema, Warner Bros. Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Wingnut Films, and the entire cast and crew of 'The Hobbit' films, I'd like to announce that two films will become three," Jackson announced on his Facebook page.

"The richness of the story of 'The Hobbit', as well as some of the related material in the appendices of 'The Lord of the Rings', allows us to tell the full story of the adventures of Bilbo Baggins and the part he played in the sometimes dangerous, but at all times exciting, history of Middle-earth," the director and producer of the trilogy said.

Officials with Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema also confirmed the move.

The new adaptation, which is based on Tolkien's 1937 children's book "The Hobbit, or There and Back Again" will be produced as a prequel trilogy to Jackson's Academy Award-winning epic trilogy "The Lord of the Rings", which is also based on a Tolkien novel.

The Middle-earth events contained in the English writer's work were authored to take place 60 years earlier than the detailed adventure depicted in "The Lord of the Rings".

"Can't wait to see them all!" Rusdy Krisman commented on Jackson's Facebook account. "Could you pls release all these movies in the same year so I don't need to wait long?"

"This is worrying," Jason Atlas Anfang said. "As someone just said, making the Hobbit into two films instead of one four-hour film was a stretch, but now a third? It seems greedy and inappropriate for the material."

The first film in the new trilogy, "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey", is scheduled for release on December 14. The second film is slated to hit theaters on December 13, 2013 while the third is expected to hit the screens in summer 2014.

Many of the familiar cast members of "The Lord of the Rings" will reprise their roles in the new project. Ian McKellen will act in his earlier role of Gandalf the Grey, while Martin Freeman will play Bilbo Baggins and Richard Armitage be featured as Thorin Oakenshield. Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Ian Holm and Christopher Lee will also appear in the project.

All three films will be released in both 3-D and 2-D, according to the studios.

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