'Hobbit' Movies Journeying Into Theaters In December 2012, 2013

The titles of the two 'Lord of the Rings' prequels will be 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' and 'The Hobbit: There and Back Again.'
By Gil Kaufman

Martin Freeman
Photo: Samir Hussein/ Getty Images

There is finally some daylight at the end of the long, twisty journey to the screen of the two-film telling of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit." Over the holiday weekend, director Peter Jackson announced the names of the two movies he's filming based on Tolkien's preview novel to "The Lord of the Rings" and the release dates for the eagerly anticipated flicks.

The first part, "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," is slated to open on December 14, 2012, while the second, titled "The Hobbit: There and Back Again," will open almost a year later, on December 13, 2013. After years of setbacks and false starts, Jackson finally began shooting the 3-D "Hobbit" movies in March in New Zealand with a cast headed by Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins, as well as such returning "Lord of the Ring" stars as Orlando Bloom, Andy Serkis, Elijah Wood, Cate Blanchett, Sir Ian McKellen and Hugo Weaving.

It was announced on Friday that Bloom would be donning his golden wig again to play the role of the elf Legolas. "The Hobbit" is set 60 years before "The Lord of the Rings" and follows the journey of plucky hobbit Bilbo, who is drawn into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor from the vicious dragon Smaug.

The cast also features Richard Armitage, Jed Brophy, Adam Brown, John Callen, Stephen Fry, Ryan Gage, Mark Hadlow, Peter Hambleton, Stephen Hunter, William Kircher, Sylvester McCoy, Bret McKenzie, Graham McTavish, Mike Mizrahi, James Nesbitt, Dean O'Gorman, Lee Pace, Mikael Persbrandt, Conan Stevens, Ken Stott, Jeffrey Thomas and Aidan Turner.

Check out everything we've got on "The Hobbit."

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