Back in the Hobbit

Speaking of LOTR, while the story ends with The Return of the King, the long journey of the infamous One Ring (the prop was pocketed by Elijah Woon as a souvenir of the filming) with the hobbits began in the Tolkien novel, The Hobbit, which is set 50 years prior to the events in the LOTR trilogy.
Now, readers of the books have wondered if director Peter Jackson was interested in making an LOTR prequel... the answer is, yes. Jackson has reportedly expressed a desire to do The Hobbit, possibly working with several of the actors and most of the crew behind LOTR.
Gandalf the Grey (played by Ian McKellen) will most assuredly appear in the prequel, along with main hobbit hero Bilbo Baggins (played in the LOTR films by Ian Holm). Elven princess Arwen (Liv Tyler) would also conceivably appear. And of course, Gollum (the CG creature given life by Andy Serkis) would play a vital role.

I remember watching the Rankin/Bass animated Hobbit film, and even from that the story's excellent. Hobbit Bilbo Baggins is goaded by Gandalf to join a troop of dwarves as the party 'burglar' in order to steal back the treasure under the Lonely Mountain, now guarded by the mighty dragon, Smaug the Magnificent. Aside from having the first encounter with Gollum, the Hobbit also features encounters with spiders, goblins and wargs, wood elves, a city built on a lake, a battle with a dragon and at the climax, a battle between Five Armies.

A Hobbit film by PJ and Weta would no doubt be uber cool. And a great companion to the already excellent LOTR trilogy. Cross your fingers, it just may happen. Someday. Somehow...