Final Hobbit set for boxing Day 2014

The final Hobbit film is due to be released for Christmas in 2014, with local distributors set to begin showing it on Boxing Day. Picture: Warner Bros Source: Supplied

JUST days after the first instalment of Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy became a member of the exclusive $1 billion club, studio Warner Bros has changed the release date of the final film.

Part three of The Hobbit: There and Back Again, will now join parts one and two -as well as Jackson’s preceding The Lord of the Rings trilogy - as a Christmas holiday movie.

Warner Bros will back the holiday appeal of the franchise by releasing in the US on December 17, 2014. Local distributor Roadshow confirmed it will stick with its successful Boxing Day release strategy in Australia.

There and Back Again will follow part two, The Desolation of Smaug, which opens on Boxing Day this year.

The Hobbit: There and Back Again was originally slated to close the trilogy in July 2014 - the height of the US summer blockbuster season, where it would have faced competition from a new Transformers movie.

Part one, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, last weekend became just the 15th film to gross more than $1 billion in worldwide gross. Of that total, $43 million came from Australia, while growing market China has contributed a booming $37 million from the film’s first 10 days of release.

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