Many of the actors from the Oscar-winning Rings trilogy, including Ian McKellen as Gandalf the wizard, and Andy Serkis as Gollum, are also expected to return on much higher pay.

FORBES: 'The Hobbit' Budget Is NOT $500 Million

Sir Ian McKellen returns as Gandalf the Grey, the character he played in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, with Elijah Wood as Frodo and Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield.

BBC: First instalment of The Hobbit to get Royal premiere

"Frodo lives, " declared the flower children's buttons in the 1960s, but everyone here lives vividly, from Viggo Mortensen's Aragorn, Ian McKellen's Gandalf, Orlando Bloom's Legolas, Sean Astin's Sam and Elijah Wood's Frodo to Miranda Otto's radiant Lady Eowyn, who delivers, with joyous understatement, the movie's most rousing line: "I am no man!"

WSJ: Now That's an Epic