As the prequel to the award winning "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, the upcoming Peter Jackson directed flick "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," has some mighty large shoes to fill.

The long awaited and soon to be released fantasy adventure film is based on the popular children's novels by J.R.R. Tolkien.

High profile director Jackson recently revealed at Comic-Con that he hopes to turn the movie into a trilogy of films. Hence, a potential 3rd installment is near production.

According to Perez Hilton, Jackson had the following to say regarding the immense amount of material he is working with:

"There's so much good stuff in the appendices that we haven't been able to squeeze into these movies."

Several of the actors such as Elijah Wood, Orlando Bloom and Cate Blanchett will be back to reprise their roles from the original movies.

"The Hobbit" will feature Bilbo Baggins will journey to the Lonely Mountain with a group of Dwarves in order to reclaim a stolen treasure from dragon Smaug.

Interestingly enough, two parts of the film were shot back-to- back: "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" and "The Hobbit: There and Back Again." The latest version mentioned is slated for release on December 14, 2012 and the other will be out on December 13, 2013.

CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST PICS FROM THE HOBBIT:  AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY

Tags: The Hobbit Movies