Six New 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' Stills Released!
by Sean Comer
Depending on whether you're eagerly anticipating Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit" trilogy or holding out hope someone pulls a "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" and shelves it, USA Today's six new stills from "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" are either like dangling bacon over a coffee-addled cocker spaniel or twisting a knife in the wound.
Fans haven't been entirely kind to Jackson in the months following this past summer's San Diego Comic Con. Whether he brought home Oscar gold with "The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King" or not, J.R.R. Tolkien devotees bristled when Warner Bros. and MGM Studios announced in August that Jackson would be extending a planned two-film adaptation of the "Lord of the Rings" precursor into a trilogy.
As it stands now, "An Unexpected Journey" hits theaters this winter, "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" arrives Dec. 13, 2013, and "The Hobbit: There and Back Again" premieres July 18, 2014.
"We've been asking them if we can do a bit more filming next year," Jackson said circa SDCC this past summer. "Which I don't know what would come of that, whether that would be extended editions or not. But those discussions are ongoing. ... I'd like to shoot a bunch more material that we can't shoot. There so much good stuff in the appendices that we haven't been able to squeeze into these movies. That's a discussion that we're having, yeah."
For better or worse, whether fans are down for what could be considered a greedy studio cash-grab or not, "An Unexpected Journey" premieres Dec. 14 starring Ian McKellan, Martin Freeman, Andy Serkis, Hugo Weaving and "Sherlock" star Benedict Cumberbatch.
