The third instalment in Sir Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy is set to be released in mid-2014.
The film's release date of July 18, 2014, has just been announced by Warner Bros.
The third film, titled The Hobbit: There and Back Again, will be released just seven months after the second instalment, which has been re-titled The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The first film, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, is due to be released in December this year.
That film will have its world premiere at Wellington's Embassy Theatre on November 28.
NZN