The Desolation of Smaug

Stuff reports:

The release date for the final film in The Hobbit trilogy has been announced.

It will follow more closely on the heels of the second film, the name of which has been re-titled.

The final instalment, titled The Hobbit: There and Back Again, will have its international release on July 18, 2014 – just seven months after film number two, which has been re-titled The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

Warner Bros executive Dan Fellman said the studios wanted the final two films in the trilogy to be closer together.

”We wanted to have a shorter gap between the second and third films of The Hobbit trilogy. Opening in July affords us not only the perfect summer tent pole, but fans will have less time to wait for the finale of this epic adventure.”

This confirms my theory that the first movie will end with the finding of the ring, or maybe just after they escape the mines.

The second movie I think will end with the killing of Smaug.

The third will be the fallout over the treasure, the battle of the five armies and the linking to Lord of the Rings such as driving out the Necromancer (Sauron).