Peter Jackson’s ‘Hobbit’ trilogy gets official names and release dates
Peter Jackson recently announced a third chapter in the “Hobbit” series and now confirms a release date and a shuffling of the titles for two of the three films. Details for the first film, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” remains unchanged and will comes to theaters this fall, December 14, 2012.
Warner Bros
Warner Bros. announced the changes, reported by THR on Friday, explaining that “The Hobbit: There and Back Again” will now be the title of the third film. “There and Back Again” will arrive in theaters on July 18, 2014.
“We wanted to have a shorter gap between the second and third films,” Warner Bros. president of domestic distribution Dan Fellman said in a statement. “Opening in July affords us not only the perfect summer tentpole, but fans will have less time to wait for the finale of this epic adventure.”
Chapter two in the series will now be called “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” and come to theaters next year on December 13, 2013.
Veronika Kwan Vandenberg, president of international distribution, added: “The Hobbit: There and Back Again will be an action spectacle and an emotional conclusion for this already much-anticipated trilogy. Opening in the summer will maximize playability for what promises to be an event film for fans the world over.”
The three films are productions of New Line and MGM, with New Line managing production. Warners is handling worldwide distribution, with MGM handling select territories.
Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis are joined by Galadriel (Cate Blanchett), Elrond (Hugo Weaving) and the Company of Dwarves, including Fili (Dean O’Gorman), Kili (Aidan Turner), Dori (Mark Hadlow) and Nori (Jed Brophy).
Also appearing the cast of The Hobbit are Richard Amitage as Thorin Oakenshield, Luke Evans as Bard the Bowman, Christopher Lee as Saruman, Benedict Cumberbatch as Smaug, Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins, Ian Holm as Old Bilbo, Orlando Bloom as Legolas, Evangeline Lilly as Tauriel, Billy Connolly as Dain Ironfoot, Graham McTavish as Dwalin, Ken Stott as Balin, Adam Brown as Ori, John Callen as Oin, Peter Hambleton as Gloin, William Kircher as Bifur, James Nesbitt as Bofur, Lee Pace as Thranduil, Stephen Hunter as Bombur, Mikael Persbrandt as Beorn, Stephen Fry as the Master of Lake-town, Barry Humphries as The Great Golblin and Sylvester McCoy as Radagast the Brown.
