"The Hobbit: part 2" has been officially renamed

After announcing recently that "The Hobbit" would be extended into three films instead of two there was a blizzard of speculation as to how (if) this would affect the title of the 2nd film; "The Hobbit: There and Back Again". Well the answer is in as Peter Jackson and Co have announced that that title will now belong to film #3 while the second film will get the new title "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug".

Glad to see that the big scaly dude is being brought front and center into the proceedings where he belongs.

Bilbo is informed his arch enemy will now get title billing in film #2