Since March, various titles and release dates have been circulating for the much-anticipated film adaptation of The Hobbit, the prequel to Lord of the Rings, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
The studios have finally officially announced that the first film of the two-part series will be titled The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, released December 14, 2012, and the second installment will be called The Hobbit: There and Back Again, released December 13, 2013.
Both titles are drawn from the original author J.R.R. Tolkien, as There and Back Again was the alternative title for his 1937 book, and My Unexpected Journey is Bilbo Baggins’ discarded title for a fictional book.
With the smashing success of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, director Peter Jackson returns to Middle-Earth with these two films, where The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, undertakes a quest to regain the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor from the dragon Smaug.
Jackson wrote the script with Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Guillermo del Toro. Some of the actors from Lord of the Rings will reprise their roles in two-part prequel, including Ian McKellen as Gandalf, Elijah Wood as Frodo, Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, and Orlando Bloom as Legolas. Andy Serkis will play Gollum to Christopher Lee’s Saruman, and Hugo Weaving is still Elrond. Actor Ian Holm returns as the older Bilbo Baggins, while Martin Freeman will play the younger hobbit.
After a few delays, shooting is underway in in director Peter Jackson’s homeland of New Zealand.