‘The Hobbit 3′ Gets Official Title and Is Set for Summer 2014 Release

The final installment of the Peter Jackson-directed trilogy is titled ‘The Hobbit: There and Back Again’, while the second film will now be called ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’.

“The Hobbit 3″ officially gets a release date. While the first two movies are set to be unleashed at the end of 2012 and 2013, this third one will hit theaters across the nation on July 18, 2014, Warner Bros. Pictures and MGM announce. Not only does the film get its U.S. release date, but it also receives its official title.

The third “Hobbit” film will now be called “The Hobbit: There and Back Again“. It is the title which was originally given for the second film, which now will be named “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug“.

Explaining the decision to release “The Hobbit 3″ in July instead of December just like the first two films, Warners President of Domestic Distribution Dan Fellman says, “We wanted to have a shorter gap between the second and the third films of ‘The Hobbit’ trilogy. Opening in July affords us not only the perfect summer tentpole, but fans will have less time to wait for the finale of this epic adventure.”

The studio’s President of International Distribution, Veronika Kwan Vandenberg, adds, ” ‘The Hobbit: There and Back Again’ will be an action spectacle and an emotional conclusion for this already much-anticipated trilogy. Opening in the summer will maximize playability for what promises to be an event film for fans the world over.”

The first film in the series, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey“, is scheduled to open Stateside this December 14, while “The Desolation of Smaug” will hit theaters nationwide a year later on December 13. All three films in the trilogy were shot in 3D 48 frames-per-second and will be released in High Frame Rate 3D, other 3D formats, IMAX and 2D.