The Hobbit (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hobbit), basically a children's book, is about 300 pages long, and was published in 1937. The Lord of The Rings (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings) was the trilogy (Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King), published years later, and much darker and more adult in tone.

Many different attempts at adapting these books to film have been made, with limited success. The rights to the books were challenging. Tolkien sold them early, and they became a commodity in the biz. Peter Jackson finally wound up with the rights to Lord of The Rings and made the blockbuster film trilogy a decade ago.

He then got his hands on the rights to The Hobbit and decided to bring that novel to the big screen. But one movie isn't enough, is it? Jackson figured this was his last chance to film Tolkien's world - he'd never get the rights to the other works, held by Tolkien's estate, who don't like the adaptations...

However, at the end of the Lord of the Rings is an exensive appendix with all kinds of stuff that happened between the events of the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings, a sixty year gap. There is all sorts of material there that Jackson did own the rights to, so he decided to make two films out of the Hobbit, filling it out with this other material. Then, after all the filming, he found out he had enough for three movies.

The first part came out last week. The second comes out next Chrismas. And the final part comes out the summer after that.

So, I recommend that if you want to explore, and don't want to read the books, then start with the movie version of "The Fellowship of the Ring". Get the Extended Edition DVD. Watch it in widescreen.

No, wait...go see the Hobbit, now, while it is on the big screen. If you are not used to 3D movies, then see it in 2D.