'The Desolation of Smaug': That Third 'Hobbit' Film Now Has a Release Date and a Title

When Peter Jackson first announced that the film adaption of The Hobbit would be split into two films, people started asking if that move was really necessary. Yeah, The Lord of the Rings was a trilogy of films, but that trilogy was based on three books. The Hobbit? Just one, small book. How could Jackson justify making it into the two films — The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again — that he had planned?

Well, as we learned a few weeks ago, not only did Jackson think he had enough material to turn The Hobbit into two films, the director now believed that he could make The Hobbit and a bunch of additional J.R.R. Tolkien material into three films.

New Line and Warner Bros. announced on Friday the new release schedule for The Hobbit trilogy in addition to the title of the additional installment.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey remains the lead film of the trilogy, sporting a Dec. 14, 2012 release date. The second film will now be titled The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and will be released on Dec. 15, 2013. The Hobbit: There and Back Again, which was originally the title of the trilogy's second film, will follow just a half year later on July 18, 2014.

Regardless of what anyone says about Jackson's, New Line's or Warner Bros.'s motives when it comes to splitting The Hobbit into three films, it's obvious that this trilogy will clean up at the box office and most likely be an Oscar player come awards season.