With The Hobbit adventuring into the dangerous realm of Middle-Earth Trilogicus, it looks like the journey there and back may need a shake up or two in the naming department.
And that’s precisely what has happened, as the Peter Jackson project has come up with a new name or two for the middle film, while also setting a solid release date for the third chapter in the Lord of the Rings prequel saga.
Warner Bros has begun snapping up a few domain names, hinting to the second film now being called The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, possibly referencing a scene from the original book where Bilbo and his fellowship of dwarves encounter Smaug the dragon and the treasures that he guards.
As for the release dates, An Unexpected Journey, the first film, releases internationally on December 14 this year, with The Desolation of Smaug arriving a year later, on December 13.
The Hobbit: There And Back Again, breaks the annual mould, and arrives a few months later, on July 18 in 2014, good news for hardcore Jacksonites we reckon.
Veronika Kwan Vandernberg, head of international distribution at Warner Bros., had the following to say regarding the upcoming trilogy:
‘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.
What do you think of that middle-film title? Do you like it, or would you have preferred the other rumoured contender, Riddles in the dark?
Last Updated: September 3, 2012
Alex Hicks
September 3, 2012 at 11:24
It’s been a few years, but if my memory doesn’t serve me false – those are two of the chapter titles in the original book. Both work for me; although “riddles” was closer to the start of the middle third of the book than “desolation”.