Two months ago, Warner Bros. released a preview calendar of upcoming releases in 2013 which also mentioned an extended edition of the first Hobbit entry An Unexpected Journey. It was due in the 4th quarter of 2013 and we also reported about it. Just one day after that, Warner rowed back and issued a statement declaring that the plans for the extended edition weren't final. They then deleted it from their calendar.

After that, it took quite some time until that topic came back on the agenda and this time, Peter Jackson himself confirmed the longer version while being at the screening on the Butt-Numb-A-Thon film marathon in Austin. He said that the extended edition will be released and will feature 20 to 25 additional minutes. This leads up to a final running time of roughly 189 or 194 minutes for the first film.

If nothing has changed with the release schedule of Warner Bros, the extended version of An Unexpected Journey could be expected in late 2013, shortly before The Desolation of Smaug will start in cinemas

You know, just the other day I was thinking to myself "Yeah, this Hobbit movie is alright, but really it needs to be longer".

Thought there will be none because how can they make extended versions based on a single book when they originally planned on only two movies and then extended it into a trilogy.