Peter Jackson has confirmed that The Hobbit, to be shot in Wellington next year, will be one continuous movie in two parts and not two self-contained films.

When the project was announced in late 2007, the plan was for two films to be shot back-to-back.

The first film would be based on The Hobbit in its entirety, or, some of the story would spill over into the second film which would also be based on author JRR Tolkien's other writings to create a direct link to The Lord of the Rings.

But Jackson, who is also an executive producer on the project, said The Hobbit would now take up all of both films. "We decided it would be a mistake to try to cram everything into one movie," he hold British film magazine Empire.

"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."

Jackson's confirmation backs comments made late last year by The Hobbit director Guillermo del Toro that it was likely The Hobbit would be spread over two films rather than one.

Del Toro told Empire the two-part Hobbit movie would expand on two areas that were only alluded to in the book - wizard Gandalf's visits to arch-villain Sauron's stronghold in Mirkwood forest and the wizard's involvement in the White Council.