The Hobbit

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is a 2013 epic fantasy adventure film directed by Peter Jackson. It is the second installment of a three-part film adaptation based on the 1937 novel The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien. It was preceded by An Unexpected Journey and will conclude with There and Back Again, and together they will act as a prequel to Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.

The Desolation of Smaug continues the story following An Unexpected Journey, and portions of the film are adapted from the appendices to Tolkien's The Return of the King. The wizard Gandalf the Grey investigates a growing evil at Dol Guldor, while the hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) continues his quest with thirteen dwarves, led by Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage), to reclaim the Lonely Mountain from the dragon Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch).

The film's screenplay was written by Peter Jackson, his longtime collaborators Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, and Guillermo del Toro, who was originally chosen to direct the film before leaving the project in 2010. The film also stars Evangeline Lilly, Lee Pace, Luke Evans, Ken Stott, James Nesbitt and Orlando Bloom, and features Stephen Fry and Manu Bennett.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug premiered on 2 December 2013 in Los Angeles, and was released internationally on 11 December 2013.[4] Like its predecessor, the film used a shooting and projection frame rate of 48 frames per second, which was advertised as "High Frame Rate" to the public.