Bilbo Baggins will begin his journey in December. Director Peter Jackson’s much-hyped and much delayed “Hobbit” franchise has been given official release dates and titles.
The first film will hit the theatres on December 14, 2012 as The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey while the second picture will release on December 13, 2013, as The Hobbit: There and Back Again.
The first film will face competition at the box office from Ang Lee’s Life of Pi while There and Back Again is the first pic set for the 2013 holiday season, the Hollywood Reporter said.
Jackson began shooting the two films in New Zealand in 3D in mid-March with a cast including Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins and Orlando Bloom, Andy Serkis, Elijah Wood, Hugo Weaving, Ian McKellen and Cate Blanchett reprising their roles from The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Bloom joined the cast to portray the elf Legolas.