The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Fan Event Set

Clare Sidoti

Managing Editor

The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings fans, mark November 4 down as Variety revealed today that a worldwide fan event will take place in theatres and online that day.

The event will centre around The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, the second film in The Hobbit trilogy. Along with interviews with cast members, including Orlando Bloom (Legolas), Evangeline Lilly (Tauriel), Lee Pace (Thranduil) and Luke Evans (Bard the Bowman), the event will unveil never before seen footage from the upcoming movie.

The event is being organised by New Line and MGM with cast and crew members, including director Peter Jackson, appearing in theatres in Los Angeles, New York, London and Wellington. The theatres will be linked via satellite to each other where footage will be screened and the cast and crew will answer questions in front of their live audiences.

Jackson will be in attendance at the Wellington event. The New York event will be hosted by CNN anchor, Anderson Cooper and have Richard Armitage (Thorin Oakenshield) and Bloom present. Lilly will head up the Los Angeles event and London will feature Pace, Evans and Gollum himself, Andy Serkis.

For fans unable to attend one of the live theatres, the event will also be screened in theatres in Brussels, Hamburg, Madrid, Mexico City, Miami, Paris, Rome, Sydney and Toronto. The event will also be streamed live online.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is to be released December 13.