Another pair of actors have joined the cast of Peter Jackson‘s long-awaited adaptation of the J.R.R. Tolkien classic, The Hobbit.

It’s been announced that popular UK star James Nesbitt has been added to the cast, coming after his name had been rumored for a stretch. Nesbitt will play an important role in the dwarf named Bofur, who is described as being “disarmingly forthright, funny and occasionally brave.” Talking about the addition of Nesbitt, Jackson gushed “James’s charm, warmth and wit are legendary as is his range as an actor in both comedic and dramatic roles. We feel very lucky to be able to welcome him as one of our cast.” Nesbitt is best known for his roles in movies and TV series like Waking Ned Devine, Cold Feet, and Danny Boyle’s Millions.

Also added to the cast is newcomer Adam Brown, who will play another Dwarf named Ori, a member of the Company of Dwarves who sets off to fight the vicious dragon, Smaug, in hopes of reclaiming Lonely Mountain.

The first images from Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson‘s planned trilogy adaptation of The Adventures of Tintin have been released online.

The performance-capture films will begin with the Spielberg-directed The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, which is set for release on December 28, 2011. The opening film is a combination of three stories — The Crab with the Golden Claws, The Secret of the Unicorn, and Red Rackham’s Treasure — follows Tintin (Jamie Bell), a young reporter who meets a man known as Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis), and the two discover a clue that might lead to a treasure belonging to Haddock’s great ancestor.

Now comes our first peek at what the movie will look like by way of Empire Magazine. It’s nothing too surprising here — the movies look like the classic Tintin with a nice performance-capture/CGI makeover, and that was exactly the idea.

Be sure to click over right now to see the two first images, and you can also click the image up top for Empire’s magazine cover.

Just a few days ago we found out that after so many complications, the adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien‘s fabled tale, The Hobbit, had finally received a greenlight by studios, and that Peter Jackson would indeed be returning to direct the two-part film.

At the same time, we heard that one of the front runners for the hotly pursued lead role of Bilbo Baggins, Martin Freeman, was ever so close to nabbing the job. This little dream casting for many is now officially a reality as Jackson has announced a chunk of castings for his film, including the confirmation of Mr. Freeman as Bilbo.

Freeman was one of what seemed to be three top fan choices along with James McAvoy and Doctor Who‘s David Tennant. The actor hasn’t done a ton of stuff to gain recognition here in the States, but you may best recognize him as the lead in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. He also was on the original UK version of The Office, and had small roles in Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and Love, Actually.

It feels like the two-part adaptation of The Hobbit has been given the greenlight about twelve times at this point, but each and every time sees an immediate step back to the “not quite yet” status.

Recently it sounded like an official greenlight was on the horizon with Peter Jackson locked in to direct after Guillermo del Toro had to step away, and it appears that these words were no lie. Many outlets are hearing and reporting that yes, The Hobbit has now been given the official OK, with Jackson still attached despite his ongoing feud with unions causing a bit of a hiccup.

Even with this announcement sounding like “the one” everyone has been waiting for, some still feared that there was reason to believe that this was STILL not official. Because of how often we’ve been teased and toyed with, we might have just ignored this news until there was something more solid, but thankfully a nice and neat press release has been sent out to the masses to calm worrying hearts.

Be sure to click over to read the full press release and to read more about the actors said to be close to roles in these long, long, long-awaited movies.

Some potentially good news in regards to Peter Jackson‘s constantly complicated endeavor to adapt J.R.R. Tolkien‘s original tale of The Hobbit into a two-part feature film. The good news is also followed by a bit of bad news, naturally.

There’s been endless news and discussions when it comes to The Hobbit, and it’s felt like the movie has been coming for a decade now. The truth is that the movie itself never even got the greenlight from studios, though it was universally expected to be happening one way or another — the greenlight was just a formal detail. Then came the departure of director Guillermo del Toro and all of the financial woes of MGM, who were set to go dutch with Warner Brothers and New Line Cinema on the project, bringing to surface the very real chance that this movie simply would never happen.