Hey guys, have you put in your order for your Bilbo and Frodo Baggins birthday cakes? As you might be aware, Saturday, September 22, marks both of their birthdays, but even if you forgot about them, they haven't forgotten about you, and a brand-new present for Tolkien fans in the midst of Tolkien Week has arrived with, a brand-new trailer for Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey."
The first installment of what will now be a trilogy, Tolkien's slim volume gets expanded thanks to other additional material to create a series that presumably will link up with "The Lord Of The Rings" to create one of the biggest epic sagas of all time. Martin Freeman stars as Bilbo in a story that will see him journey with a gang of pals to the Lonely Mountain, to reclaim treasure that is being guarded by the vicious dragon Smaug (played by Benedict Cumberbatch). As we already know, that creature pretty much won't be appearing until the second film, the newly titled "The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug."
So the big question: is this already much shorter story being stretched too thin? Has Peter Jackson nailed the lighter tone of "The Hobbit" or is it too goofy? Does part one have enough compelling narrative to make it worthy of a standalone? Did any of this convince you to see it in 48fps or 3D? Weigh in below.
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" arrives on December 14th, with faces new and old bringing you back to Middle Earth.