Peter Jackson’s much-anticipated prequel to his Lord of the Rings series, The Hobbit trailer was finally released today. For those who haven’t heard, the film is actually being split into two separate movies, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. The Hobbit trailer features the former, which is slated to be released on December 14th. The cast features a few familiar faces with Ian McKellen as the wizard Gandalf, Cate Blanchett as the elf Galadrial, and Andy Serkis voicing the corrupt Gollum. Newcomer Martin Freeman will star as the leading hobbit Bilbo Baggins. The trailer is full of hobbits, dwarfs, elves, wizards, dragons, orcs, goblins, ogres, and many more creatures based on the acclaimed novel by J.R.R. Tolkien.

For your viewing pleasure, here it the trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

The trailer release happens to coincide with Tolkien Week, celebrating the 75th anniversary of the printed publication of The Hobbit. Here’s a synopsis of the film, courtesy of movie aggregator website IMDB.

Bilbo Baggins is swept into a quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor from the fearsome dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakenshield. Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Giant Spiders, Shapeshifters and Sorcerers. Although their goal lies to the East and the wastelands of the Lonely Mountain first they must escape the goblin tunnels, where Bilbo meets the creature that will change his life forever … Gollum. Here, alone with Gollum, on the shores of an underground lake, the unassuming Bilbo Baggins not only discovers depths of guile and courage that surprise even him, he also gains possession of Gollum’s “precious” ring that holds unexpected and useful qualities”