According to Variety the first Hobbit film will get a 2011 Christmas release, with the second following the year after. This is just speculation, but with the recent news of the lawsuit, and then the incorporation of New Line into Warner Bros., such a delay isn’t unreasonable. The end of New Line means that Warner Bros. will have more films to take on so something will have to be put on hold, and “Harry Potter will have wound down at WB by then, and the corporation will surely welcome another fantasy franchise that has an eager global audience waiting. New Line will distribute domestically, while MGM has international rights.”