The Hobbit Titles Released

Two films, precious?

By Sam Chapman, 31 May 2011

Today is a fine day in the kingdom of men. Peter Jackson has finally gotten round to revealing the titles of the two Hobbit films now that both are shooting.

Drum roll...The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again are due for release 14 December 2012 and 13 December 2013 respectively.

Aside from sounding like Withnail's hazy declarations, both films are set to tell the tale of Bilbo Baggins' travels, which has churned out speculation as to the characters we'll witness come next winter.

But, given that the cast includes Hugo Weaving, Ian McKellan, Cate Blanchett, Andy Serkis, Orlando Bloom and Elijah Wood, you can be sure of at least a few scenes with the fellowship. Although, seeing that Jackson has announced the White Council will be called to arms, we'll likely see a lot more of Elrond (Galadriel), Gandalf (McKellan) and Galadriel (Blanchett) than Frodo (Wood) considering he is but hobbit sperm at this stage of the story.

Ever the people's director, Jackson has started answering fans' questions on a dedicated Facebook page - the first of which focussed on the White Council - to keep us all in the loop. You may also want to take a look at the council gathering their orc-smiting arsenal and the official Hobbit blog.

To make this day even better? You probably heard that Martin Freeman has been cast as Bilbo.

*Adopt deep, X-Factor voice over* "Peter Jackson!" (Image: urbancn)