In celebration of "Tolkien Week," which marks the 75th anniversary of the publication of The Hobbit, Warner Bros. has released a new trailer for Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.  This new promo piece, which includes quite a bit of previously-unseen footage, does an excellent job of laying out the plot for the picaresque adventure, which appears to include plenty of action and adventure along with more than a little humor (the final shot in the trailer is simply hilarious).

 

Unlike the previous trailer, which concentrated on introducing Bilbo’s dwarf companions for the upcoming quest (see "New 'Hobbit' Trailer"), this latest trailer features characters that are already familiar from The Lord of the Rings such as Gandalf, Galadriel, Elrond, Gollum, and the young Bilbo and also manages to introduce some fascinating new ones such as Radagast the Brown and Beorn the skin-changer.

 

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is the first film in Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy.  It will debut on December 14th, 2012.  The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug premieres on December 13th, 2013, while the final film in the trilogy, The Hobbit: There and Back Again bows on July 18th, 2014.