'The Hobbit' release dates and subtitles revealed

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Culture Cafe

'The Hobbit' release dates and subtitles revealed

The subtitles and release dates for Peter Jackson鈥檚 two 鈥楾he Hobbit鈥� movies were officially announced.

Agencia el Universal/El Universal de Mexico/Newscom

'The Hobbit' Director Peter Jackson stands in the doorway of a set in New Zealand.

By Sandy Schaefer Screen Rant

May 31, 2011, 11:26 a.m. ET

It鈥檚 been known for some time now that the first half of Peter Jackson鈥檚 two-part film adaptation of '聽would arrive in December 2012, with part two聽tentatively scheduled to arrive a year later. Likewise, rumors over New Line Cinema's registration of聽聽for the movies popped up about three months ago.

Now New Line Cinema, Warner Bros., and MGM 鈥� all of which are involved in funding Jackson鈥檚 estimated $500 million new venture to Middle-Earth 鈥� have gone ahead and announced official release dates AND subtitles for the聽Hobbit听尘辞惫颈别蝉.

As we previously speculated, the first聽Hobbitmovie will be titled 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey'聽鈥� followed by the second film,听The Hobbit: There and Back Again'. Tolkien fans should be even less surprised by the subtitle for part two聽of Jackson鈥檚 'Hobbit', seeing as that it鈥檚 also the name of the book that Bilbo Baggins writes about his wondrous adventures.

'An Unexpected Journey'聽is now set to hit theaters on Dec. 14, 2012. 'There and Back Again'聽will follow suit just under a year later on Dec. 13, 2013.

In addition to splitting the original聽Hobbit聽novel in two, Jackson and his聽Lord of the Ringsteam look to use a flashback structure to recount the tale of young Bilbo and his鈥渦nexpected journey鈥�聽with a pack of聽聽and a (relatively) younger Gandalf the Gray (). Hence why聽补苍诲听聽are also reprising their respective roles as Frodo Baggins and an elder Bilbo Baggins.

Principal photography on the聽Hobbit聽movies began over two months ago, but there鈥檚 still been a healthy amount of casting news recently. Word has since gotten out about actors like聽,听, 补苍诲听聽appearing in the film 鈥� along with confirmation that聽Lord of the Rings聽trilogy stars like Hugo Weaving 补苍诲听聽will be back as well.

To reiterate: 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey'聽will arrive in theaters next year on Dec. 14, 2012.

'The Hobbit: There and Back Again'聽is set to follow a year later on Dec. 13, 2013.

Source: New Line Cinema, Warner Bros., and MGM

Sandy Schaefer blogs at .

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