Movie Monday: The Hobbit Release Announced!
May 31st, 2011
Mr. Jackson living the high (or rather small) life of a Hobbit
Nerds of the world unite!
Today, filmmaker Peter Jackson has finally released the dates and titles of his two-part prequel to The Lord of the Rings, the wildly successful film trilogy based on the JRR Tolkein books. Mr. Jackson’s movies will split Tolkein’s The Hobbit into two movies, being filmed back-to-back, called The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which is set to be released on December 14, 2012, and The Hobbit: There and Back Again, which will be released one year later on December 13.
This is welcome news to the many LOTR fans, myself included, that have been waiting for The Hobbit to be released for almost ten years. During the course of that time, the film became famous for its constant delays in filming and in-fighting among its creators, which led many to believe that the films were never going to be released. Eventually, Mr. Jackson acquired the funds to make the film, and we can begin to plan our release parties. Even more welcome news is that many of the faces from the trilogy will be coming back, such as Sir Ian McKellen as Gandalf, Elijah Wood as Frodo, Orlando Bloom as Legolas, Andy Serkis as Gollum, and Christopher Lee as Saruman. Ian Holm will also be returning as Bilbo Baggins, but since this film takes place years before the first Long of the Rings novel, Martin Freeman will play the role of a younger Bilbo. The films will trace Bilbo’s journey, along with a team of elves, dwarves, and the wizard Gandalf, to free the dwarf kingdom of Erebor from the dragon Smaug, a journey that was briefly mentioned in The Fellowship of the Ring.
The ensemble cast will also feature a couple of famous British actors that weren’t in the original trilogy, such as Richard Armitage (from the BBC show Robin Hood) and legendary comedian Stephen Fry (from Black Adder and A Bit of Fry and Laurie).
