First poster lands for The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug

The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug has released a first official poster online, featuring the diminutive Bilbo Baggins arriving at the lair of the titular dragon.

The new poster is big on atmosphere, with death and destruction heavy in the air as Bilbo makes his way towards the series' big bad.

Smaug is holed up in the ancestral home of the dwarves, as illustrated by those twin statues outside his gold-filled nest. And from the looks of that smoke billowing from the entrance, we'd wager Bilbo is going to have quite the job winkling him out.

Meanwhile, the first official trailer is set to arrive online at some point tomorrow, hopefully giving us our first proper look at the dragon in all his glory. Unless Peter Jackson decides to hold him back for the main event that is…

Directed by Jackson and co-starring Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage and Benedict Cumberbatch, The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug will open in the UK on 13 December 2013.

George Wales

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.