Final Hobbit Movie 'The Battle of the Five Armies' 2014 Release Date, Cast & Plots News from Director Peter Jackson, New Art Revealed [PICTURE]

By Matt Lloyd Sep 16, 2014 11:24 AM EDT

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, the third and final movie in 'the Hobbit' series is set to released on December 17th, 2014 in the U.S.

Thanks to Entertainment Weekly, a new art picture has been posted and it even has a cool magnifier option to zoom in and see all of the details. To see the new art, click HERE.

The upcoming 2014 fantasy adventure film is directed by Peter Jackson and written by Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Guillermo del Toro and based on The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is produced by New Line Cinema, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and WingNut Films; and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.

The movie had originally been titled "There and Back Again," but according to Jackson's facebook post he released a few months back (read below), the new name of the film was changed to "The Battle of the Five Armies." The franchise's studio Warner Bros. confirmed the change. Originally only two "Hobbit" films were planned, but a third was added after Jackson borrowed characters from the "Lord of the Rings" franchise and added some original story.

The first 'Hobbit' movie An Unexpected Journey (2012), grossed a staggering $1 billion worldwide. The sequel The Desolation of Smaug (2013) was a bit less successful, bringing in $953 million worldwide. Along with speaking about the final movie, Jackson also reveals that there will be an extended cut of "Desolation of Smaug" with 25 minutes of new scenes.

Read Jackson's full Facebook post below:

"Inside Information...

Our journey to make The Hobbit Trilogy has been in some ways like Bilbo's own, with hidden paths revealing their secrets to us as we've gone along. "There and Back Again" felt like the right name for the second of a two film telling of the quest to reclaim Erebor, when Bilbo's arrival there, and departure, were both contained within the second film. But with three movies, it suddenly felt misplaced-after all, Bilbo has already arrived "there" in the "Desolation of Smaug".

When we did the premiere trip late last year, I had a quiet conversation with the studio about the idea of revisiting the title. We decided to keep an open mind until a cut of the film was ready to look at. We reached that point last week, and after viewing the movie, we all agreed there is now one title that feels completely appropriate.

And so: "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" it is.

As Professor Tolkien intended, "There and Back Again" encompasses Bilbo's entire adventure, so don't be surprised if you see it used on a future box-set of all three movies.

Before then however, we have a film to finish, and much to share with you. It's been a nice quiet time for us-Jabez and I happily editing away in a dark cave in Wellington-but those halcyon days are quickly coming to an end. It will soon be time to step into the light. Expect to see and hear much about The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies in the coming months.

And there's also The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Extended Cut, which we're in the process of finishing, with over 25 mins of new scenes, all scored with original music composed by Howard Shore.

It'll be a fun year!"

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