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There's been a lot of talk surrounding The Hobbit recently, most of it simply rumors and speculation, but today it seems we have some official information as Deadline reports Peter Jackson will be directing both the first installment of The Hobbit as well as the subsequent untitled sequel.

Jackson was first rumored to be in talks to direct the two films back in June following Guillermo del Toro's departure from the director's chair the month prior.

Deadline's Mike Fleming adds that Warner Bros and MGM have set a December 2012 and December 2013 release pattern for the two films, replicating the release pattern of the original Lord of the Rings features with production expected to begin in January 2011. Even more importantly, all the rumblings concerning the two Hobbit films being shot in 3D were recently confirmed by the New York Times.

The two-picture shoot is expected to cost around $500 million.

As far as casting goes, Ian McKellen is expected to return as Gandalf and Martin Freeman has been rumored in the past as the first choice to play Bilbo Baggins. The film is based on J. R. R. Tolkien's novel "The Hobbit; or There and Back Again" and will tell the story of tiny, furry-footed Bilbo and his adventures in Middle-earth, which ultimately served as the prelude to Tolkien's epic "The Lord of the Rings", which was published in three volumes during the 1950s.