A few lucky people on our Hobbit discussion board who live in Norway reported today that, after standing in line in freezing cold temperatures for days, their efforts have been rewarded with tickets for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey! The movie opens in many theaters in Norway with a midnight showing at 12:12 a.m., Wednesday, December 12. Tickets are currently on sale for both 2-D and 3-D showings.

Perhaps more exciting for those of us who aren’t lucky enough to live in Norway, member Carne tells us that two separate theaters in Norway report a running time of 2 hours, 44 minutes. Another member, painjoker, corroborated that with the observation that some folks who had been invited to a showing of the rough-cut in the theater he was standing in line at were inside the theater approximately three hours. Mithrandir also reported they’re allowing about three hours and ten minutes between showings, so that would also corroborate a 2:44 running time. By definition, if it is a rough cut being shown now, the running time could still change slightly, but 2:44 seems to be the consensus at the moment.

Tickets to the movie will go on sale in the U.S. on November 7. Two hours an forty-four minutes of Hobbit goodness will be coming to a theater near all of us soon, but ‘patience’ is the word of the day for those of us who have to wait until the 7th of November for our tickets!