Third Hobbit film from Peter Jackson to open July 18, 2014 - Los Angeles Times

Peter Jackson with Martin Freeman on the set of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey." (James Fisher /Warner Bros.)

By Julie Makinen

August 31, 2012, 5:20 p.m.

You can now precisely mark your calendars, Hobbit fans. Peter Jackson’s final film in the trilogy will be released July 18, 2014, with the title “The Hobbit: There and Back Again.”

Initially, the director had planned two movies based on J.R.R. Tolkien's popular masterpiece, but this summer he decided there was enough material for a third movie.

The first film in the trilogy, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” opens this year on Dec. 14. 

The second installment will be called “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” and will be released a year later, on Dec. 13, 2013.  

Shot in 3-D, at 48 frames-per-second, the trilogy of films will be released in High Frame Rate (HFR) 3-D, other 3-D formats, Imax and 2-D.   All three films in the trilogy are productions of New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures.

Explaining the only seven-month gap between the second and third films, Dan Fellman, president of domestic distribution at Warner Bros. Pictures, of which New Line is a part, said: “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.”

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