By When The Hobbit went from a pair of movies to a trilogy, the original plan was to release The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey on December 12, 2012, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug on December 13, 2013, and The Hobbit: There and Back Again on July 18, 2014.
In a move surprising no one, The Hobbit: There and Back Again has been pushed back to December 17, 2014. Part of this means that the finale of The Hobbit will not compete against Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Days of Future Past, which is slated to come out July 2014.
Apart from avoiding the competition from Marvel’s mighty mutants, the date change also makes sense in terms of series consistency. All of the Lord of the Rings films were December releases, and having The Hobbit: There and Back Again as the lone summer film in the sextet would seem a bit strange.
Still no word on another Hobbit-themed menu at Denny’s next December.
[Deadline via /Film]