Full Synopsis For THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY Released

The first of Peter Jackson's LOTR prequels will hit theaters exactly one year from today, so the studio has released this detailed synopsis including the plot, cast, crew etc..

By MarkCassidy - Dec 14, 2011 04:12 AM EST

Filed Under: Fantasy

The first trailer has received positive reactions from those lucky enough to see it and should be with us soon. But for now we have this full synopsis gives us a much better idea of the plot (for those who may not have read the book) as well as full details on cast, crew and characters..

From Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson comes The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the first of two films adapting the enduringly popular masterpiece The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien. The second film will be The Hobbit: There and Back Again.

Both films are set in Middle-earth 60 years before The Lord of the Rings, which Jackson and his filmmaking team brought to the big screen in the blockbuster trilogy that culminated with the Oscar®-winning The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

The adventure follows the journey of title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor from the fearsome dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakenshield. Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Giant Spiders, Shapeshifters and Sorcerers.

Although their goal lies to the East and the wastelands of the Lonely Mountain first they must escape the goblin tunnels, where Bilbo meets the creature that will change his life forever…Gollum.

Here, alone with Gollum, on the shores of an underground lake, the unassuming Bilbo Baggins not only discovers depths of guile and courage that surprise even him, he also gains possession of Gollum’s “precious” ring that holds unexpected and useful qualities … A simple, gold ring that is tied to the fate of all Middle-earth in ways Bilbo cannot begin to know.

Ian McKellen returns as Gandalf the Grey, the character he played in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and Martin Freeman in the central role of Bilbo Baggins. Also reprising their roles from The Lord of the Rings movies are: Cate Blanchett as Galadriel; Ian Holm as the elder Bilbo; Christopher Lee as Saruman; Hugo Weaving as Elrond; Elijah Wood as Frodo; Orlando Bloom as Legolas; and Andy Serkis as Gollum.

The ensemble cast also includes (in alphabetical order) Richard Armitage, John Bell, Jed Brophy, Adam Brown, John Callen, Luke Evans, Stephen Fry, Ryan Gage, Mark Hadlow, Peter Hambleton, Barry Humphries, Stephen Hunter, William Kircher, Evangeline Lilly, Sylvester McCoy, Bret McKenzie, Graham McTavish, Mike Mizrahi, James Nesbitt, Dean O’Gorman, Lee Pace, Mikael Persbrandt, Conan Stevens, Ken Stott, Jeffrey Thomas, and Aidan Turner.

The screenplays for both The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again are by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Guillermo del Toro and Peter Jackson. Jackson is also producing the films, together with Fran Walsh and Carolynne Cunningham. The executive producers are Alan Horn, Ken Kamins, Toby Emmerich and Zane Weiner, with Boyens serving as co-producer.

Under Jackson’s direction, both movies are being shot consecutively in digital 3D using the latest camera and stereo technology. Filming is taking place at Stone Street Studios, Wellington, and on location around New Zealand.

Among the creative behind-the-scenes team returning to Jackson’s crew are director of photography Andrew Lesnie, production designer Dan Hennah, conceptual designers Alan Lee and John Howe, composer Howard Shore and make-up and hair designer Peter King. The costumes are designed by Ann Maskrey and Richard Taylor. The score is being composed by Howard Shore.

Taylor is also overseeing the design and production of weaponry, armour and prosthetics which are once again being made by the award winning Weta Workshop. Weta Digital take on the visual effects for both films, led by the film’s visual effects supervisor, Joe Letteri. Post production will take place at Park Road Post Production in Wellington.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again are productions of New Line Cinema and MGM, with New Line managing production. Warner Bros Pictures is handling worldwide theatrical distribution, with select international territories as well as all international television licensing, being handled by MGM.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will be released beginning December 14, 2012. The second film, The Hobbit: There and Back Again, is slated for release the following year, beginning December 13, 2013.

So in just one year we will get to see the prequel to arguably the greatest trilogy in film history. Excited? You should be.

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53 Comments

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BloodredNemesis - 12/14/2011, 5:28 AM

EPIC Trilogy and these will most certainly be the best Prequels ever.

BloodredNemesis - 12/14/2011, 5:29 AM

Best movie of 2012. Dark Knight Rises close 2nd with Man Of Steel

jbak368 - 12/14/2011, 5:29 AM

Glad to see del Toro is still credited on the screenplay.

Jolt17 - 12/14/2011, 5:31 AM

Great. I've just been that into the franchise, so definitely can't wait for this one.

Jolt17 - 12/14/2011, 5:32 AM

R3Animator Man of Steel has been pushed back to 2013 anyway. :)

Kayo - 12/14/2011, 5:54 AM

Is the Necromancer present on the first prequel?........Smaug is the one guarding the treasure in Erebor.

Fogs - 12/14/2011, 5:54 AM

"Shapeshifters" - Wonder how Beorn will look like, and how his transformation will be.

Fogs - 12/14/2011, 5:59 AM

Grounded - you mean in the hobbit book?

If yes, we hear from him. Gandalf goes astray sometimes in the story and we only hear that he's battling the Necromancer along with the White Council (Elrond, Galadriel, Saruman, etc).

We can know more about it in the LoTR appendices, where it's explained that the Necromancer is in fact Sauron in spiritual form.

MarkCassidy - 12/14/2011, 5:59 AM

Yes in book form, but these movies will be prequels to Jackson's trilogy.

Fogs - 12/14/2011, 6:00 AM

Godzillafart - I disagree... To me the LoTR trilogy was the best one could achieve in movie form, considering format changes, public who doesn't know jackshit of the deepness of books, etc.

Kurosaki - 12/14/2011, 6:09 AM

A very good book. I hope that movies are as good as LOTRS.

Gmoney84 - 12/14/2011, 6:21 AM

I've been waiting for these movies for so long now. I can't wait!

spiderneil - 12/14/2011, 6:25 AM

erm, can't you just read the book for the synopsis?

comicb00kguy - 12/14/2011, 6:25 AM

Godzillafart and Aklash: While the LOTR trilogy of films have their faults, especially the second one, they're probably as close to the source material as we'll ever get on film. There is just too much in any of the LOTR books to cram into three hours or so. Of course it's all that detail that's part of what made the books so special Tolkien really brought Middle-Earth to life. I loved the sets, which really were dead-on for how I'd always imagined those places would look.

Honestly, I still have apprehensions about splitting The Hobbit into two films, and just how the added material dealing with Gandalf fighting the Necromancer, aka Sauron, will be incorporated without damaging the narrative of the main story, but I must say, The Hobbit is definitely the movie I'm most looking forward to right now.

Fogs - 12/14/2011, 6:37 AM

@Godzillafart - I understand what you're saying about the Galadriel Scene too, for someone who read this part in FoTR that scene looked a bit shallow, with something missing. But I also think that that was the best way of showing the sentiments involved. Either that or showing why the whole Galadriel banishment and test was so important to her. Didn't hurt the movie to me. At all.

As I said before the ONLY thing I reeealy thought unnecessary was changing Faramir values, even temporarily, by having him take Frodo to Osgiliath. I can even understand Aragorn receiving Andúril later for climax sake, but I'd really change Faramir role in that part.

Also, the non-extended versions shouldn't exist.

@Comicb00kguy, We agree, then.

Fogs - 12/14/2011, 6:38 AM

sKeemAn - yes, he will. He appeared in the second videolog, I guess.

elessarundomiel2382 - 12/14/2011, 6:44 AM

Look like we'll only get as far as the borders of Mirkwood and the Spiders. Most of film one will be scenes in Bag End and Goblin Tunnel/Gollum's Cave

Knightstalker - 12/14/2011, 6:51 AM

I didn't mind the Galadriel scene as much as I disagreed with how the 4 hobbits recieved their swords in FotR. I can understand leaving out the entire Tom Bombadil part to save time, but the swords they got in the book were Elven made swords of the Westernesse specifically designed to kill the ring wraiths. It was Merry's sword in RotK that actually killed the Witch King while Eowyn got all the credit.

spiderneil - 12/14/2011, 6:52 AM

the hobbit will make more than TDKR, no doubt about it.

Knightstalker - 12/14/2011, 6:53 AM

Instead we got Aragorn handing them common daggers. "Here ya go, boys"

Dedpool - 12/14/2011, 7:15 AM

AWESOME!!! Loved LOTR trilogy, and I will love this!

sansClaymore - 12/14/2011, 7:49 AM

lets hope the world doesnt end before we get to see both films

marvel72 - 12/14/2011, 7:57 AM

this is gonna be awesome,can't f*ckin wait.

MarkCassidy - 12/14/2011, 8:03 AM

I agree about that Galadriel scene, silly. Didn't ruin anything though, Jackson did too much right for me to quibble over the things he did wrong.

GreendaleHumanBeing - 12/14/2011, 8:06 AM

GreendaleHumanBeing - 12/14/2011, 8:09 AM

@Aklash I agree Faramir was my favorite character in the books, and he didnt translate on screen properly. That said I thought Peter Jackson did a fantastic job translating the books to the cinema. In some areas he actually improved the source material and in some he didnt do it justice (like any good adaptation).

Ric - 12/14/2011, 8:32 AM

aaaaaawwwww can't wait to see this one <3

Fogs - 12/14/2011, 8:36 AM

@Knightstalker - Nah, you're wrong in both statements:

1 - About the hobbits swords, they actually were long daggers forged in the kingdom of Arnor, they were found in the Barrow-downs (excluded from the movies, so made sense Aragorm handed them those weapons).

2 - No way the Witch-king died by Merry Sword.

It happened in the book exactly as in the movie:
- Fellbeast kills Théoden;
- Éowyn decapitates Fellbeast;
- Witch-king battles Éowyn, breaks her arm and shield with his mace;
- Merry stabs the back of the Witch-king's knee, [frick]s up his arm;
- Éowyn thrust her sword into the void between the Witch-king's crown and body, her sword shatters, Witch-king's clothing fell to the ground, and he vanished with a scream.

@GreendaleHumanBeing - Agreed 100%!

hoodedjester - 12/14/2011, 8:47 AM

I am definitely looking forward to this and although Jackson didn't follow the LOTR books 100% - he brought us one of the best trilogies since Star Wars. It's no easy task any time someone decides to turn a book into a movie but Jackson and his team did a fantastic job.

I just watched the Fellowship 2 weeks ago and the CGI still looks great for being 10 years already. I trust the Hobbit will be that same standard of quality and I'm quite looking forward to returning to Middle Earth next Christmas

Fogs - 12/14/2011, 8:54 AM

Godzillafart - yeah, I don't agree (those didn't lowered my score, lol) but I can see your point.

MercMatt - 12/14/2011, 9:15 AM

Can't wait for the Hobbit films. The LOTR movies are among my top favorites. All three of them are worth 5 out of 5 stars, to me. Bring on the Hobbit.

Fogs - 12/14/2011, 9:25 AM

LoTR is my top trilogy, followed by back to the future, indiana jones and the original star wars one.

1 2

Full Synopsis For THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY Released

The first of Peter Jackson's LOTR prequels will hit theaters exactly one year from today, so the studio has released this detailed synopsis including the plot, cast, crew etc..

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