Warner Bros. announced today that the third film in The Hobbit trilogy will be called The Hobbit: There and Back Again, which is what the second film was originally known as. There and Back Again will be released July 18, 2014, and the second film, opening December 2013, will now be called The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.
So to make things clear:
- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – December 2012
- The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – December 2013
- The Hobbit: There and Back Again – July 2014
From the press release:
Dan Fellman, President of Domestic Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures, stated, “We wanted to have a shorter gap between the second and third films of ‘The Hobbit’ Trilogy. 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.”
Veronika Kwan Vandenberg, President of International Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures, 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 Hobbit follows the journey of title character Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor, which was long ago conquered by the dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen), Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakensheild (Richard Armitage). Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Giant Spiders, Shapeshifters and Sorcerers.
