Looks as though New Zealand wins the “firsties” game when it comes to the general release of The Hobbit, An Unexpected Journey.

Ringer Lissuin stumbled on the news when The Roxy Cinema in Miramar sent out their on-line newsletter announcing Dec 13 as the release date. An email follow-up got this answer: “…according to the release schedule given to all cinemas it is the 13th December for NZ.”

Roadshow Entertainment, the distributor for Warners in NZ, and Lianda Boorett, publicist for The Hobbit, have subsequently confirmed this is true.