New images for The Hobbit

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has released a whole raft of new images, thanks to a tie-in app released by Warner Bros in order to build excitement ahead of the film's release.

Hobbit Movies is the official app for Peter Jackson's new Middle-earth trilogy, and is full of behind-the-scenes treats including story information, character images and a beautifully rendered version of that famous Middle-earth map.

The new images contain plenty of shots of the battle-hardened dwarves, but our interest was particularly piqued by the first look at Lee Pace's Elvish king, Thranduil. He's Legolas' old man, don't you know?

Elsewhere, the dwarves are dominating proceedings, with Richard Armitage looking gruff and battle-ready as Thorin Oakenshield while Aiden Turner smoulders as one of his loyal men, Kili.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey opens in the UK on 14 December 2012. The newly-announced trilogy now has a trio of official titles, with The Desolation Of Smaug set to land on 13 December 2013, before There And Back Again rounds things off on 18 July 2014.

George was once GamesRadar's resident movie news person, based out of London. He understands that all men must die, but he'd rather not think about it. But now he's working at Stylist Magazine.