The highly anticipated Lord of the Rings prequel, The Hobbit, will be released in two separate movies, its Oscar-winning writer Peter Jackson has announced.

The next addition to the Middle Earth saga was originally expected to be just one film, but a second will be based on the author JRR Toliken’s other writings to link it to the hugely successful trilogy.

But Jackson, a kiwi, claims it will require two films to tell the tale of Bilbo Baggins than first expected.

“The essential brief was to do The Hobbit, and it allows us to make The Hobbit in a little more style, if you like, of the [Lord of the Rings] trilogy,” he told Empire magazine.

“We decided it would be a mistake to cram everything into one movie.”

Jackson will co-write The Hobbit with his old trilogy partners, Fran Walsh and Phillipa Boyens, as well as Hobbit director Guillermo Del Toro.

The first Hobbit will be out December 2011 with the second in 2012.