New Images Released For The Hobbit

It’s been nearly 10 years since The Lord of the Rings trilogy took its final bow on screen. The epic 9 and a half hour cinematic journey defined a new era of filmmaking, setting visual effects standards and reinvigorating a love for the fantasy genre. It is still the biggest game changing film of the new millennium (James Cameron can keep Avatar thank you very much) and its prequel, The Hobbit, has a lot to live up to.

Regardless of whether The Hobbit will be as good or as important as The Lord of the Rings is kind of moot until we get to see it, but the images that have been released by Entertainment Weekly at least demonstrate that Peter Jackson is getting comfortably back into the world of Middle Earth.

The images show an array of scenes with Bilbo, the dwarves and Gollum, who still looks just as impressive a creation as he did way back in the original trilogy.

As you all probably know The Hobbit is set around 60 years before the events of The Lord of the Rings and actually does explain how Bilbo comes to find the Ring. Jackson has said that The Hobbit will link closer to the trilogy, more than Tolkien does in the book.

Of course, one of these images contains Galadriel, who doesn’t appear in the novel. Fear not though as Jackson has said that when audiences see the films the inclusion of her character will make sense.

Apparently, Jackson and his screenwriters have used bits from Unfinished Tales and The Silmarillion and incorporated them into The Hobbit to complete his vision of the world of Middle Earth.

The Hobbit is promising to be one of the big highlights of the year for its technological advances alone. It will be the first big theatrical release to be screened at 48fps which many are saying may soon become an industry standard, especially for 3D. But Jackson’s greatest power lies not in his obsession with his computer but his brilliance at telling a story, and with The Hobbit he promises to deliver that.

The first part, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, will be released on December 14th, with the second part, The Hobbit: There and Back Again, being released a year later on December 13th, 2013.

Check out the images below.