Peter Jackson Discusses His Return To Middle Earth With "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey'

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which has amassed over $1 billion in worldwide ticket sales since its release in December, makes its debut for home viewing on 3D Blu-ray and DVD today with an impressive amount of bonus features. Director Peter Jackson returned to New Zealand to film the highly anticipated prequel trilogy to The Lord of the Rings, and fans returned to theaters in droves to see what he had up his sleeve, and we have two more chapters on deck for December 2013 and 2014.

You can read my review of the film, as presented theatrically in 3D and 48 frames per second HERE.

I was thrilled to cover the press junket in New York City in December as a producer for Access Hollywood, and had the opportunity to talk to Peter Jackson, Andy Serkis, Sir Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman and Richard Armitage in one-on-one interviews.

Below are excerpts from my chat with Peter Jackson, where we discussed the hurdles involved in bringing J.R.R. Tolkien's book to the big screen, re-uniting with some of his Lord of the Rings cast members, and working with his new Bilbo Baggins in Martin Freeman.

You can also read his response when I asked him about possibly one day directing an installment of Star Wars. Although in the time since this interview was conducted, J.J. Abrams has signed on for Episode VII, there is still going to be a lot of opportunities in the future.

Check out that part of the interview HERE.

SOURCE: AccessHollywood.com

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TRAILER: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Warner Bros. has released a new sneak peek at The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the first in the planned trilogy of films based on J.R.R. Tolkien's 1937 classic novel. This second look at the film adds a wow factor and moves along a lot quicker than the initial teaser released last December, and features glimpses of returning Lord of the Rings cast members Ian McKellan as Gandalf, Hugo Weaving as Elrond, Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, and much more Andy Serkis as Gollum.

The highly anticipated epic return to Middle Earth, directed by Peter Jackson and starring Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins, is set to hit theaters in 3-D, IMAX 3D, and RealD 3D on December 14th.

Official Synopsis:

"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 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 ingenuity 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."

SOURCE: Apple Trailers

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