Following on from the bn. success of last year’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Peter Jackson will be continuing the trilogy this coming December with its second instalment, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.
If the success of the first film is anything to judge by, Warner Bros. have another huge success on their slate for the end of the year, and the ball has just begun rolling ahead of its release.
We got a great first look at Evangeline Lilly this week as the newly-created warrior Elf, Tauriel. And now the studio have released the first poster for the sequel, announcing that the trailer will launch on Tuesday this week, and is set to be attached to Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel come Friday.
Martin Freeman will of course be front and centre once more as Bilbo Baggins, taking centre stage in this first poster below. And he’ll be starring alongside Benedict Cumberbatch, Andy Serkis, Luke Evans, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Evangeline Lilly, Hugo Weaving, Cate Blanchett, Elijah Wood, Ian Holm, and many more.
Jackson’s return to Middle-earth crossed the $1bn. mark earlier this year, closing out at #15 on the list of highest-grossing films of all time with just over a billion dollars, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how the middle chapter compares at the box office.
The Lord of the Rings went up and up with each instalment, with the final The Return of the King taking north of $1.1bn., and it would be great to see The Hobbit climb higher and higher with each film as well.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug will be released in 3D on December 13th in the US and UK, with The Hobbit: There and Back Again concluding things next winter on December 17th, 2014. For now, here’s the first poster for The Desolation of Smaug. Be sure to come back on Tuesday for the first teaser trailer when it hits.
