[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbOEknbi4gQ&feature=player_embedded#t=148]
After watching The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug trailer you’re left to wonder if this is more the second movie in The Hobbit three-part event — or an advanced prequel to The Lord of the Rings. Maybe it’s both.
With the trailer now out for the Dec. 13 release, we can see director Peter Jackson has upped the epicness factor here, with heavy action, including big explosions, large-scale fighting and fanciful weapons.
In this 2:29 clip we see a few additions to the book, including Orlando Bloom’s Legolas getting embroiled in romance and plenty of bad-guy Sauron, all providing a hefty dose of connection between the three-part Hobbit movies and the Lord of the Rings movies.
As the dwarves, Bilbo (Martin Freeman) and Gandalf (Ian McKellen) continue beyond their escape from Misty Mountains toward the effort to regain their gold from the dragon Smaug (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch), who plays a much larger role in the film, we also get to view new characters, such as Evangeline Lilly’s Tauriel (cue up the Legolas romantic interest here) and man-bear Beorn (Mikael Persbrandt).
As you take in the trailer for part two—we especially enjoyed the giant spider bit—and wait for the December debut, know that the final installment won’t be far behind, either, with The Hobbit: There and Back Again hitting theaters on Dec. 17, 2014. After The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey kicking things off in 2012, you’ll soon have all The Hobbit you can handle. But for now, you have a new trailer to dissect.