It could do one very long film or two short ones. But knowing Jackson they'll each be 2 1/2 hours, half of that drawn-out combat. I don't think he wanted to do three films and got pressured into it, but there's not a dearth of back-material to work with. It wouldn't be that hard to stretch The Silmarillion into a series of films, probably 4 at least.
The Hobbit is hard to categorise, largely because it predates most of the literature of its type, and that's part of what keeps it interesting to current audiences. LotR is a better example; it's the only example that I can think of offhand for an inverted fetch quest. Another thing that makes it work is that it injects an intended familiar everyman, the quintessentially-English Hobbit, into a mythical/fantasy world, in a much more seamless fashion than the more typical falling-through-a-doorway introduction used by such writers as Lewis.
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The Hobbit is hard to categorise, largely because it predates most of the literature of its type, and that's part of what keeps it interesting to current audiences. LotR is a better example; it's the only example that I can think of offhand for an inverted fetch quest. Another thing that makes it work is that it injects an intended familiar everyman, the quintessentially-English Hobbit, into a mythical/fantasy world, in a much more seamless fashion than the more typical falling-through-a-doorway introduction used by such writers as Lewis.