Hot on the heels of today’s teaser trailer debut, Warner Bros. has released a batch of new high-resolution images from director Peter Jackson’s sequel The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.  These photos pretty much lay out the main characters from the second entry in the trilogy adaptation of the beloved J.R.R. Tolkein novel, as we see the return of Martin Freeman, Ian McKellan, and Richard Armitage as well as Hobbit newbies Evangeline Lilly, Orlando Bloom, and Luke Evans.

Hit the jump to browse the new images, and click here if you missed the trailer.  The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug opens in 2D, 3D, IMAX, and HFR on December 13th.

The first clip and a large batch of high-resolution images from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey have been released.  The clip is quite nice, as it features Ian McKellan’s Gandalf entrusting Martin Freeman’s Bilbo with a very familiar-looking sword.  We’ve seen plenty of money shots in the film’s trailers and TV spots, but this clip highlights one of the softer moments of the film and brings to mind the earnestness that worked so well in The Lord of the Rings.  The new images are also a swell treat for fans, as we’re given a first look at Christopher Lee back as Saruman alongside the angelic Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, as well as The Goblin King and some seriously nasty-looking trolls.

Hit the jump to check out the clip and images.  The film also stars Richard Armitage, Hugo Weaving, Andy Serkis, Peter Hambleton, John Callen, Ken Stott, Graham McTavish, James Nesbitt, William Kircher, Aidan Turner, Dean O’Gorman, Mark Hadlow, Jed Brophy, Adam Brown and Stephen Hunter.  The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey opens December 14th.

With nearly a month to go before the release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, we’re not exactly lacking in promotional material.  We’ve seen production blogs, a handful of trailers and TV spots, and posters galore, but if you’re still itching for some new The Hobbit material, we’ve got just the cure.  150 behind-the-scenes images from director Peter Jackson’s adaptation have been rounded up and put together in one handy gallery, giving fans an inside look at how Jackson brought Middle Earth to life again.  Moreover, artist Neil Finn‘s fantastic end credits song for the film, “Song of the Lonely Mountain,” has been released online in full.

Hit the jump to browse through the images and listen to the song, and if you missed any of Steve’s set visit coverage be sure to check out 65 things to know and his interviews with Peter Jackson, Ian McKellan, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, and Weta Workshop’s Richard Taylor.  The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey opens in 3D on December 14th.

Tickets for both The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and theatrical marathons for the extended editions of The Lord of the Rings trilogy go on sale this coming Wednesday, and a new TV spot for Peter Jackson’s upcoming adaptation of the former has now landed online.  The spot highlights the advanced tickets sale and boasts a bit of new footage, but more excitingly a preview of Lord of the Rings composer Howard Shore’s score for The Hobbit has also been released.  We recently got a look at the full tracklisting, and now “Radagast the Brown” has landed online in its entirety.  It’s at once familiar and new, with some lighter/more playful bits reflecting the different tone of The Hobbit in relation to Lord of the Rings.

I’m eager to see Jackson’s three-part adaptation of The Hobbit on the big screen, but I’m almost just as excited to hear Howard Shore’s return to Middle Earth.  Hit the jump to check out the TV spot and to preview the soundtrack.  The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey opens in 3D on December 14th. [Update: Warner Bros. has released 7 new high-resolution images which are now included after the jump.]

Let me start by saying The Lord of the Rings trilogy is among my all-time favorite movies.  I think the extended cuts are amazing on every level and what Peter Jackson accomplished is truly astounding.  Over the past seven years, I’ve done hundreds of on set interviews and have always been able to keep it together.  But when I was on the set of The Hobbit earlier this year in New Zealand and Ian McKellan came in to do an interview, I almost lost it.  Not only was I on the set of a Lord of the Rings movie, I was going to be able to interview Gandalf!

Thankfully, Ian McKellan couldn’t have been nicer and more friendly.  While some set visit interviews are a short ten to fifteen minutes, McKellan stayed with us for thirty five minutes and was willing to talk about everything.  During my group interview we talked about his first days on set, why Gandalf is helping the dwarves, filming in 3D, the relationship between Gandalf and Thorin, and so much more.  Hit the jump for what he had to say.

It seems as if pseudo-Conservative talk show pundit and comedian Stephen Colbert may be joining the cast of J.R.R.Tolkien’s beloved characters in Peter Jackson’s upcoming The Hobbit trilogy.  This is completely unconfirmed and more for fun speculation at this point, but Colbert talked about his visit to The Hobbit set in a recent interview and neither confirmed nor denied a possible cameo.  He did confess to being a Tolkien fan, however, and if that enthusiasm proved enough to sway Jackson, there’s already a precedent set for a Colbert cameo. Hit the jump to see what Colbert had to say.

[Update: THR confirms that Colbert will indeed be making a cameo in The Hobbit, but he won't appear in this fall's An Unexpected Journey so keep an eye out for Colbert in The Desolation of Smaug and/or There and Back Again.]

A batch of new images from Peter Jackson’s upcoming The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has landed online, giving us our first look at Elijah Wood reprising his role as Frodo.  We previously saw Wood in costume in one of the earlier Hobbit production videos that Jackson shared from the set, but this is our first look at the actor in character in the film.  The appearance is likely a brief one, as we saw Ian Holm reprising his Bilbo role in the first trailer. He began recounting his adventures that comprise The Hobbit as part of what looks to be a frame story, so it’s safe to assume that Frodo is part of this “Storytime with Bilbo.”  The images also feature Ian McKellan as Gandalf and Martin Freeman as our hero, Young Bilbo.

Hit the jump to check out the images.  The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey opens in 3D on December 14th, followed by The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug on December 13th, 2013 and The Hobbit: There and Back Again July 18th, 2014.

Director Peter Jackson kicked off Tolkein Week with an introductory video on Sunday and a batch of new images from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey yesterday, and today the fun continues with a new image that teases tomorrow’s premiere of the film’s new trailer.  Martin Freeman looks quite small as young Bilbo Baggins, but he’s too enamored by something in the sky to be bothered by his tiny size.  An Unexpected Journey will be the first installment in what is now Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy, and I’m beyond thrilled to return to Middle Earth in just a couple of short months.

Hit the jump to see the image, and be sure to check back here tomorrow morning to view the new trailer for the film.  The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey opens in 3D on December 14th. [Update: Warner Bros. has released 10 more high-resolution images, including two stunning looks at Gollum, which are now included after the jump.]

We can now confirm that the third installment in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy will open on July 18th, 2014.  The film will now be called The Hobbit: There and Back Again.  Before you get too confused, the second film has been re-titled, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.  No title or release date changes have touched the first film, so, in summation:

• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will open on December 14th, 2012.
• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug will open December 13th, 2013.
• The Hobbit: There and Back Again will open July 18th, 2014.

Still with me? Hit the jump for more on The Hobbit shuffle.

We’re only a few short months away from the release of what is now the first in a trilogy adaptation of The Hobbit, and a few images from Peter Jackson’s film have surfaced by way of a calendar tie-in for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.  The front cover features Martin Freeman’s Bilbo flanked by a few of his dwarven companions and Ian McKellan as our old friend Gandalf.  The inside of the calendar, however, includes some more close-up images of the film’s characters, including Hugo Weaving’s Elrond, Cate Blanchett’s Galadriel, and Orlando Bloom as Legolas, as well as our first look at Sylvester McCoy as Radagast the Brown.  Some of the backgrounds are a bit cheesy, and I would have enjoyed a more old-fashioned look to the pictures inside the calendar, but I guess the kids enjoy flashier versions of the Middle Earth heroes.

Hit the jump to take a look at the calendar images.  The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey opens on December 14th.

A new trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has gone online.  As it’s only subtly different from the one that was previously released, folks are referring to this one as The Hobbit 1.1.  Regardless, I’ll take any new footage of Martin Freeman and Ian McKellan I can get at this point.

The film also stars Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving, Elijah Wood, Orlando Bloom, Andy Serkis, Luke Evans, Benedict Cumberbatch, Evangeline Lilly, and Stephen Fry.  The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will be released on December 14, 2012.  Hit the jump to check out the new trailer.

The latest video blog for director Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has gone up, and it’s quite the treat.  At the film’s Comic-Con panel (you can read my recap right here), Jackson debuted a new video blog that focuses on the final days of principal photography.  A portion of that blog is now available to the general public, along with some new footage at the beginning that documents Jackson’s trip to Comic-Con and the cast’s experience at Nerd Fest 2012.  It’s a nice watch for those that were unable to make the trek to San Diego, and it gives a sort of “behind-the-scenes” look at what filmmakers go through when attending The Con.

The Hobbit portion of the blog gives us some great looks at the city of Dale, the Goblin sets, Beorn’s house, as well as our first peeks at actors Sylvester McCoy as Radagast the Brown and Barry Humphries as Gorkin the Goblin King.  Hit the jump to watch for yourself.

While at Comic-Con for a big presentation in Hall H, director Peter Jackson, along with actors Martin Freeman, Sir Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis, talked to press about the highly anticipated release of The Hobbit films, and whether or not there might be some additional shooting for a possible third film.  During the press conference, they discussed how The Hobbit films will fit in with The Lord of the Rings films in their tone, why it was right to shoot in 3D and 48 frames per second, and the biggest advances in technology since Rings.  You can read our recap of the Comic-Con panel here.

Andy Serkis also talked about how he came to be the Second Unit director, while Martin Freeman revealed that Season 3 of Sherlock is likely to shooting from January through April, of next year.  Check out what they had to say after the jump.

Continuing on with this massively exciting day in Hall H at Comic-Con 2012, director Peter Jackson brought us some new footage from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey as well as some looks at scenes from the second part of the adaptation, There and Back Again.  Jackson shot his two-part adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkein’s novel in 3D at 48 frames-per-second, and following the mixed reaction from CinemaCon I was really hoping to be able to judge the footage myself.  Alas, Jackson opted to screen the new footage in 2D and at 24fps.  Nevertheless, we still got to see footage from Jackson’s return to Middle Earth and hear from the lovely Andy Serkis, Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood and more.

Hit the jump for my full recap of the panel.

I was already looking forward to The Hobbit panel at this year’s Comic-Con just because Peter Jackson’s an affable guy and I’m eager to (possibly) get a look at this 48fps business, but after recently rewatching Jackson’s glorious extended edition versions of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, I’m doubly excited to delve back into Middle Earth.  We recently got a look at a gorgeous Gandalf-centered poster for the film that will be handed out to Comic-Con goers, and now a ginormous poster banner has been released.  We get teases of quite a few scenes from the pic, including the return of Hugo Weaving as Elrond and Cate Blanchett as Galadriel and our first look at the character of Beorn.

Hit the jump to check out the banner in all its glory, and be sure to check back later this week for our full recap of The Hobbit panel at Comic-Con.  The film also stars Martin Freeman, Ian McKellan, Richard Armitage, Andy Serkis, and Elijah Wood.  The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey opens in 3D on December 14th.