Bilbo Baggins won’t be battling it out with the X-Men at the summer box-office.
Warner Bros. has pushed Peter Jackson threequel “The Hobbit: There and Back Again” from July 18 to December 17, 2014, thereby steering clear of Bryan Singer’s highly-anticipated “First Class” follow-up “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” which is also set for release on the mid-summer date. That puts Gandalf and co. smack dab in the middle of the holiday moviegoing season that has proven so lucrative for the franchise in the past.
Smart move, wouldn’t you say?
“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” has grossed just shy of $1 billion worldwide, while second installment “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” is scheduled to hit theaters on December 13, 2013.
The news comes courtesy of Deadline.