Peter Jackson's 'Hobbit' Trilogy Will Conclude July 18, 2014; Second Film Gets New Title

Peter Jackson's newly announced third film in his trilogy of films adapting The Hobbit will be released July 18, 2014 and it'll be called The Hobbit: There And Back Again. That was originally the title of the second film, but that's now been re-titled The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. The first film is still called The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

When the third film was announced, we knew it would be the first of the six films based on the J.R.R. Tolkien series to be released in the Summer and now it will officially take the slot that did so well for The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. Read more after the jump.

The news came from Variety and The Hollywood Reporter.

Warner Bros. domain registrations suggested that either suggest The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and The Hobbit: Riddles in the Dark would be a title and now that's proven to be correct. And the shifting of titles makes a ton of sense, now that you think about it. What this also reveals is the depth with which Jackson is going with these films. If the second film delves in deep enough to tell of "The Desolation of Smaug," the dragon guarding the treasure Bilbo and the Dwarves are after, we're in for a pretty epic story. (And that the third film will be more akin to that rumored "bridge film" we'd heard so much about.)

So let's recap.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will be released December 14 in 2D, 3D, IMAX and 3D 48 frames per second.The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug will be released on December 13, 2013 in 2D, 3D, IMAX and 3D 48 frames per second.

And The Hobbit: There And Back Again will be released July 18, 2014 in the same formats. I love that there won't be a huge wait between the second and third film.

The head of international distribution at Warner Bros., Veronika Kwan Vandernberg, said the following:

'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.

How do you like the titles? Do you think it'll be weird seeing a Tolkien movie in the late summer?