Official Trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Warner Bros. has just released the first theatrical trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Director Peter Jackson's highly anticipated prequel to his Lord of the Rings Trilogy focuses on young Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman, Love Actually) as he begins a quest to retrieve a treasure guarded by the dragon Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch, Sherlock).

An Unexpected Journey marks the first film in Jackson's Hobbit adaptation; in 2013, he will bring Part 2 - otherwise known as There and Back Again - to cinemas around the world.

Returning from the Lord of the Rings trilogy are Ian McKellen (X-Men), Elijah Wood (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), Christopher Lee (Horror Express), Andy Serkis (Rise of the Planet of the Apes), Ian Holm (Alien), Orlando Bloom (Kingdom of Heaven), Hugo Weaving (The Matrix), and Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth), while performers such as Stephen Fry (V for Vendetta), James Nesbitt (Five Minutes of Heaven), Lee Pace (Pushing Daisies), Evangeline Lilly (Lost), Richard Armitage (Robin Hood), and Luke Evans (Clash of the Titans) are entering the world of Middle-Earth for the first time.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey's scheduled U.S. release date is December 14th, 2012.