“As Jackson himself said:”
“Sure, it’s not really THE LORD OF THE RINGS ... but it could still be a pretty damn cool movie.” —Peter Jackson
Taken from:
http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/Resources.html
and
http://www.theonering.com/page3-25/TheMoviesTheCompleteListofFilmChanges
Again, Immapurist, liberties would have to be taken in any case. Feel free to not enjoy the films. Jackson will not miss you or your few dollars when the films come out. If The Hobbit is as well made as LOTR, they will be huge hits (although possibly smaller than LOTR because the story is so much smaller).
In another 25 years there will be an effort to make a series of programs that will follow the books precisely. Probably it will be computerized and not use live actors.