‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ trailer offers new Bilbo Baggins

It’s been nine months since the last “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” trailer appeared. Since that time, we’ve learned that more “Hobbit” was on the way -- but we didn’t get more, well, “Hobbit.”

That changed Wednesday morning when a new trailer for the Peter Jackson movie dropped. The new piece (seen above) is about the same length -- 2 1/2 minutes -- as the December trailer. But it cuts to the chase more quickly, leaving out the Frodo voiceover that sets up the “Lord of the Rings” follow-up.

Instead we get the quick voiceover explanation -- “the dwarves are determined to reclaim their homeland” -- before we meet up with Martin Freeman’s Bilbo Baggins and set off.

PHOTOS and VIDEO: ‘The Hobbit’ | Films of 2012

There’s a slightly less self-serious tone to the proceedings this time around, though questers do “enter the mountain” and play important games of riddles. There is danger (“A dark part has found a way back into the world”), some comedy (“I like visitors as much as the next Hobbit. But I do like to know them before they come ... visiting”) and the inevitable discovery-lies-within utterances (“Home is now behind you, the world is ahead”).

There is also, of course, the frequent specter of dwarves overcoming military might.

In addition to being a major holiday release from Warner Bros -- and a key test of whether a spinoff trilogy can have the same heat as the original -- the first “Hobbit” film carries several larger implications for Hollywood. Perhaps chief among them is Jackson’s decision to shoot at 48 frames per second, a choice that drew mixed reviews when its results were screened for exhibitors earlier this year.

The film is set to come out on Dec. 14.

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