NEW YORK (AP) - Peter Jackson's two-film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit" has release dates.
New Line Cinema, Warner Bros. and MGM announced Monday that "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" will be released Dec. 14, 2012. The sequel, "The Hobbit: There and Back Again," is to be released Dec. 13, 2013.
The films have suffered repeated delays over studio funding problems, a threatened actors' boycott and ulcer surgery for Jackson. Shot consecutively, they began filming in March in New Zealand.
The 3-D "Hobbit" films are prequels to Jackson's Oscar-winning "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. The movies star Martin Freeman, Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Cate Blanchett and Orlando Bloom.