Five new characters posters for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug have been released by New Line Cinema and MGM to give us a taste of things to come when this second film of the planned Hobbit trilogy is released on December 13, 2013. Four of the posters are dedicated to a single character – Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf the Grey, Thorin Oakenshield, and Bard the Bowman – while the last poster is split between the elves Legolas and Tauriel, the latter of whom is a new character created specifically for Peter Jackson‘s film.

See all five posters here below after the jump, and click each one for a full-sized, larger view!

With the next Hobbit film, The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug, on the way next month, the folks over at Air New Zealand put together an uplifting video showing “just another day in Middle-earth.”

Check out the video here below.

Filmmaker Peter Jackson shot The Hobbit and Lord Of The Rings trilogies in his native New Zealand and parts of the country have provided the vast landscape for J.R.R Tolkien’s Middle-Earth since 2001’s The Fellowship of the Ring. If you journey to New Zealand (a dream of mine!), you can actually see Hobbiton, which was reconstructed for The Hobbit movies, this time making permanent structures so that there will be a piece of Middle-earth there long after the film crew departs.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – Extended Edition, which recently came out on Blu-ray, 3D Blu-ray, and DVD, comes with about 9 hours of bonus features, including additional footage inserted into the film. This release contains more behind-the-scenes looks, interviews, and so many tidbits about the film, its predecessor – The Lord Of The Rings – and the Tolkien universe, that you won’t know what to do with all this information. It’s truly awesome and delightful to watch.

Below is just a tiny taste of what you’ll learn from watching this Extended Edition of the film and its appendices. Here’s 10 Facts About The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey From The Extended Edition Blu-ray…

We were recently treated to 7 new character posters for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, as well as a 3-minute sneak peek from the upcoming film.

Now, Warner Bros. has released a tapestry from The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug, which features Legolas, Bilbo, Gandalf, the dwarves, Smaug’s lair, and more.

Check out the tapestry here below.

The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug, which is the follow-up to 2012’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, stars Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Lee Pace, Luke Evans, Benedict Cumberbatch, Evangeline Lilly, Orlando Bloom, and many more. WB will release the film into theaters on December 13, 2013, with the final installment, There And Back Again, coming to theaters in 2014.

A new three-minute sneak peek has been released by Warner Brothers for the upcoming sequel to The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, titled The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, from director Peter Jackson.

You can check out the sneak peek as well as a description of this second installment of the trilogy below now.