Few films can have had so much speculation over their release date. When it was first announced they were going to make a two-part movie of Tolkien’s The Hobbit, it was predicted it was going to come out at the end of 2011. Then it became clear that wasn’t going to happen, so it was assumed it’d arrive in 2012.
However with MGM’s (who own half the Hobbit rights), although Warner is actually producing the films) financial woes and competing rumours about when the movie would actually start filming, there have been a lot of stories saying we wouldn’t get the first movie until 2013.
This is despite Peter Jackson continually saying that any speculation of the release date is pointless, because nothing’s is going to be set in stone untilboth screenplays are approved, the budget sorted out and the movies greenlit. However it seems Warner is now confident enough to say that The Hobbit – Part 1is coming to cinemas in December 2012, with the second part following a year later.
There was a bit of confusion yesterday when Warner and IMAX announced a deal to release 20 movies in the massive screen format, including the Hobbit movies, as well as the final Harry Potter movie, Happy Feet 2 and Legends Of The Guardians. That release said the first Hobbit film would arrive in 2013 (sending fanboys into a panic), but now THR has gone to Warner and cleared things up, with both Warner and IMAX saying that as far as they’re concerned, 2012 is indeed the date for the first Hobbit movie, and the 2013 date was a mistake.
Things may still change, as the movie is yet to go into production, with Guilermo Del Toro at the helm, and he’s said he plans to film for over a year, making it a bit of a rush to get the first film finished for a December 2012 release, but as things stand, we can get ready to go back to Middle Earth next year.