New full-length Hobbit trailer lands

Cape Town - A stunning new trailer for the first part of Peter Jackson's much-anticipated The Hobbit trilogy has been released by Warner Bros.

The new two-and-a-half minute clip, which made its online debut on Wednesday, takes a more light-hearted approach than previous trailers of the first movie, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, and focuses more on Bilbo Baggins' introduction to the dwarves, his relationship with Gandalf the Grey, and his first encounter with Gollum and the ring of power.

Director Peter Jackson has been regularly updating fans with a series of production videos during filming on The Lord of the Rings prequel, but has been noticeably quiet since it was announced in late July that the intended two-part Hobbit tale would be expanded into a trilogy, to be released in 3D.

The Hobbit trilogy boasts an impressive cast that includes Martin Freeman as the younger Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm, who played Bilbo in The Lord of the Rings, also appears across the trilogy), Richard Armitage as dwarf king Thorin Oakenshield, and will see Sir Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood, Andy Serkis, Cate Blanchett, Christopher Lee and Orlando Bloom reprise their roles from The Lord of the Rings movies.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is set for a worldwide release (including South Africa) on 14 December, followed by The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug on 13 December 2013, and The Hobbit: There and Back Again on 18 July 2014.

Watch the new The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey trailer here: