I already told you this was happening today beginning at noon ET for the first film in Peter Jackson’s trilogy, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which Warner Bros will release December 14. Tickets are now available online and at theaters nationwide for all formats of the movie, which was shot in the nascent 3D 48 frames-per-second format and will be released in High Frame Rate 3D (HFR 3D), other 3D formats, IMAX and 2D. Chains like Regal are even explaining the new HFR 3D format as sales kick off (check that out here). Moviegoers who purchase advance tickets through MovieTickets.com will receive a free music download of the track “Old Friends” from the film’s score composed by Howard Shore. All three films are productions of New Line Cinema and MGM Pictures, with New Line managing production and Warner Bros Pictures handling worldwide theatrical distribution.

Related: ‘The Hobbit’ Advance Tickets Go On Sale Wednesday; ‘Lord Of The Rings’ Marathon Screenings Go On Sale, Too

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Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.