Peter Jackson's highly anticipated The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey won't even be released until December, but Warner Bros. has already officially announced that an Extended Edition will be released next year, most likely before The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is released in theaters.
I honestly wasn't sure we would even get an extended edition. I figured he wouldn't have any footage left over for an extended edition because it would all be used to help in creating that third Hobbit movie announced. I guess I was wrong! Jackson apparently shot even more footage than originally thought!
The Warner Bros. press release pointed out the upcoming film releases during their 90th anniversary. “And finally, among the new films you can expect on Blu-ray and DVD in 2013 are The Wachowskis’ Cloud Atlas and – officially confirmed here for the first time – Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – Extended Edition (Q4).”
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey hits theaters December 14th, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug will be released December 13th, 2013, and The Hobbit: There and Back Again will be released July 18th, 2014.