In defense of the upcoming movie, I too have heard that it is going to be at least a two parter (though i have not heard it was going to be a three parter) which make sense when you consider the absoultely epic scope of the story at hand. The animated version did a lot of narration that you can get away with in an animated film that would feel out of place in a live action film. The adventure up to mirkwood and rivendel with the goblins, the trolls, and the spiders could certainly fill one film alone and then the final plunge onto lonely mountain and the battle with smog could fill another and finally the epic battle of the races at the end could be stretched out into the lendth of its own film but that would be pushing it a little. If you recall from the animated feature most of the fighting from the last battle was seen from birds eye view with the action taking place like watching little ants running around furiously defending their hill. However if you changed the film live action with up close and personal vantage points you certainly could stretch those scenes out to fill out its own part of the movie. So, yes i can at least see this as two parter and possibly a trilogy if paced correctly.