Last week, I admitted to being among those who become hopelessly caught up in the Olympic Summer Games. One week later and things have taken an unexpected turn for the pathetic as I now find myself legitimately concerned with the “Medal Count”. As if it has any sort of bearing on my own life in any way, shape, and/or form, I’m consistently pulling for the U.S. to overtake China not only in total medals, but also in total Gold medals. In short, whether by virtue of patriotism or just sheer boredom, living vicariously through world-class athletes is what my life has come to.

Sports talk aside, awaiting you on the other end of this week’s Top 5 are brief recaps and links to Steve’s Total Recall video interviews with Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, and more, the first full trailer for James Bond’s Skyfall, our multi-part interview with the great Guillermo del Toro, the news that The Hobbit will be a trilogy, and all of our Saturn Awards interviews including talks with writer/director Drew Goddard and Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan.

Way back in the heady days of May 2010, The Hobbit couldn’t even get off the ground due to MGM’s financial meltdown.  Now the two-part film has expanded into a trilogy, and we assumed it was because Warner Bros. and director Peter Jackson had settled on a budget to make a third film viable.  However, it turns out there is no budget nor is there a finished script which would dictate said budget.  “If anybody had been a big hindrance, it wouldn’t have happened,” says a source with ties to the movies told THR. “It was such a short window of time to make this decision, if anybody had said no, it would have been two movies.”  Apparently, Warner Bros. is making a big leap of faith that the budget won’t spin wildly out of control, and that the first two movies will be strong enough to lure audiences back for the third.

Hit the jump for more along with an image of the uncomfortable looking 3D glasses for the first part of the trilogy The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.  The film is due out December 14th.

Last week, we reported that Peter Jackson was in serious talks with Warner Bros. on how to expand his two-part adaptation of The Hobbit into a trilogy.  The studio obviously would love to have another tent pole flick lined-up, but they also had to consider the costs of extending contracts and pouring more money into additional shooting.  There was already some bewilderment on the part of fans when Jackson wanted to develop J.R.R. Tolkien‘s relatively short novel into two movies, but the writer-director is pulling from more than just the narrative.  He’s using material from the appendices and Tolkien’s notes in an attempt to tonally “make it as similar to The Lord of the Rings,” so all the movies could be viewed as a cohesive whole.

Now it looks like Warner Bros has agreed to another trip to Middle-earth, and the third installment in The Hobbit trilogy will arrive summer 2014.  Hit the jump for more.  The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is due out December 14th.  The Hobbit: There and Back Again is due out December 13, 2013. [Update: Possible titles for the new installment have been uncovered.  More after the jump.]

While at Comic-Con for a big presentation in Hall H, director Peter Jackson, along with actors Martin Freeman, Sir Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis, talked to press about the highly anticipated release of The Hobbit films, and whether or not there might be some additional shooting for a possible third film.  During the press conference, they discussed how The Hobbit films will fit in with The Lord of the Rings films in their tone, why it was right to shoot in 3D and 48 frames per second, and the biggest advances in technology since Rings.  You can read our recap of the Comic-Con panel here.

Andy Serkis also talked about how he came to be the Second Unit director, while Martin Freeman revealed that Season 3 of Sherlock is likely to shooting from January through April, of next year.  Check out what they had to say after the jump.

Peter Jackson went on record at Comic-Con that he wants to shoot more footage for The Hobbit.  According to our partners at Omelete, Jackson said this could turn into two things:

• 1) There could be an extended version.
• 2) Jackson may add a third chapter to The Hobbit.

Currently The Hobbit is split into two parts: An Unexpected Journey opens on December 14, 2012; There and Back Again follows on December 13, 2013.  It would be a big (but welcome) surprise if we are now in store for three Hobbit movies over the next three Decembers.  We will definitely keep you posted as the story develops.  With that in mind, The Hobbit will close out Warner Bros’ panel at Comic-Con, which just started—so check back very soon for our recap of that.  Hit the jump for the trailer and official synopsis for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.