OK. It's only six hours where I live (EST), which is the soonest anyone in USA can see The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug!

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug has already made a big hit in France, drawing in 2.8 million its opening night, according to BoxOffice.com. This will probably be my last post before I go to watch it, but check back tomorrow for some cool stuff about the debut of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug! One last spoiler: Girion of Dale, the father of Bard the Bowman, is played by... 

Here are eleven amazing new posters and two awesome new stills from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug!

See Legolas, Tauriel, Gandalf, Bilbo, Thorin, and Bard in high-pixel glory and action-packed stances. Thanks to those fine French folk at Tolkiendrim.com and Entertainment Weekly. 

Here are five posters for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, adapted from the banner that was released a few weeks ago

These are international posters, and the text is in Spanish, but it is the images we are interested in. The posters feature, Bilbo, Gandalf, Bard the Bowman, Fili, Kili, Thorin Oakenshield, Tauriel, Thranduil, and Legolas. Check them out beyond the break!

Another new image of Bard and one of his daughters

Here are yet more images from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug 2014 Annual and the 2014 Calendar. For the first time we get to see Bard's two daughters, Sigrid and Tilda. Their attire is interesting to say the least, not unlike that of any common girl in America in the mid to late nineteenth century. What do you think? 

The third piece of artwork in the run-up to the launch of the new trailer has been released!

Here is Bard the Bowman, played by Luke Evans. The entire picture, along with different versions of the other two, as usual has been posted beyond the break. Here is anther interesting tidbit of info: Ian McKellen recently tweeted that he and Orlando Bloom would appear on NBC's Today Show tomorrow at 8am EDT, just before the release of the trailer!

Update: I have also posted a different version of Bard the Bowman, for those of you who like their pictures clean. 

It seems that someone has got their hand early on a copy of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Annual 2014!

Here are six more high-quality scans of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Annual 2014. There are several more photos of Tauriel and Bard the Bowman, plus a wider shot of the barrel scene. You can pre-order the book for yourself on Amazon, but for know, you will have to content yourself by going beyond the break. 

Slowly yet surely the filming of the Hobbit movies comes to a close,

as one by one the actors say they farewells after a job well done. Now it is time for Martin Freeman to say goodbye to Bilbo. Peter Jackson recently posted this photo on his Facebook page, and noted that

"Tonight Martin Freeman finished his last shot as Bilbo Baggins. The end of an incredible two and a half years. I cannot imagine anyone else in this role – a character that Martin has nurtured and crafted with love and great skill.

We have said goodbye to our elves, humans, wizards and now the hobbit. We now enter our final 2 weeks of pick-ups, and it’s wall to wall dwarves. These pick-ups have been gruelling and intense, but I’m so happy with what we’ve been shooting. These next two movies are going to be pretty great!"

Luke Evans and Graham McTavish have also completed their roles as Bard the Bowman and Dwalin. 

An exclusive first look by Entertainment Weekly

Along with an in-depth article about Tauriel, EW has also got its hands on a new photo of this fearsome elf, which you can see beyond the break. In the interview, Evangeline Lilly discusses Tauriel's social status and relationships with other characters. Many are skeptical because she is a non-canon character, so it will be interesting to see how things work out. 

A brief overview and discussion of the sneak peek to The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

MAJOR SPOILERS! Find out more about Smaug! Do you want to discover more about the mysterious character of Tauriel? What about Bard the Bowman? We have not seen the last of Radagast, nor has Azog finished his role. 

Poster by David Chalmer

Here is the second part to A (Guessed) Preview Into The Desolation of Smaug! Once again, I will give you summaries of the chapters in The Hobbit that I think will be covered in the movie, and then discuss various picturess. I tried to divide the posts equally (so there will be four chapters covered in this one also), but this one may be shorter as there are not very many photos left. However, do not let that discourage you from reading the rest of this post!

EW.com has got its hands on a couple pictures from the next two installments of The Hobbit trilogy. The first, from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, shows Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins on Smaug's enormous pile of gold. The second, from The Hobbit: There and Back Again, shows Luke Evans as Bard the Bowman and Orlando Bloom in what appears to be a pre-battle scene. Find out more about these awesome screenshots on EW.com.