Movies

'The Hobbit' titles and release dates confirmed

Published Monday, May 30 2011, 20:36 BST | By Tom Ayres | 15 comments

Peter Jackson's The Hobbit prequels have been officially titled.

New Line Cinema and Warner Bros Pictures have announced the names for the highly-anticipated pair of films and their respective release dates.

The first film is titled The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and will be released on December 14, 2012.

The second part will follow on December 13, 2013 and has been titled The Hobbit: There and Back Again.

Jackson recently began filming for the two-part adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, which follows a young Bilbo Baggins after he is tasked by the wizard Gandalf to set out on a quest alongside a group of dwarves to defeat a powerful dragon.

Several Lord of the Rings stars are due to return for The Hobbit including Sir Ian McKellen as Gandalf the Grey, Hugo Weaving as Lord Elrond, Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins, Orlando Bloom as Legolas the Elf, and Cate Blanchett as Galadriel.

Sherlock and The Office star Martin Freeman will portray main character Bilbo Baggins, alongside the likes of Stephen Fry, Benedict Cumberbatch, Sylvester McCoy, Bret McKenzie, James Nesbitt, Aidan Turner and Richard Armitage.