The Hobbit
Director Peter Jackson (right) with his star Martin Freeman as Bilbo. Warner Bros

Peter Jackson has confirmed that the long-awaited first trailer for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is cut and ready to be shown off to the world.

Taking to his Facebook page, the Oscar-winning director said: "Yesterday I finished work on a Teaser Trailer and that has just been delivered to Warner Bros. So no doubt this Teaser Trailer will be making its way into the world sometime soon."

Jackson also gave updated us on the status of the first full trailer, which he says we launch in October, as did the full length trailers for the last two films.

"The complex VFX work required to produce the battle shots we're all wanting to see are simply not far enough along yet," he said.

Looking ahead at Warner Bros' near-future slate, were they to tie the release of the trailer to that of an upcoming film environmental thriller Into The Storm - released on 8 August - seems the likeliest candidate.

Back in April Warner Bros announced that Jackson's third Hobbit film was to be renamed. Instead of The Hobbit: There and Back Again, it was instead given the more action-orientated title The Battle of the Five Armies.

Jackson's trilogy concluder may well prove to be the director's sign off from the world of JRR Tolkein having made the original Lord of the Rings trilogy at the turn of the century.

Hollywood being as it is and Jackson being such a huge fan however, both may find a way to produce more films from the works of the British author – with The Silmarillion a likely candidate should that ever happen.

Starring Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Ian McKellan, Orlando Bloom, Cate Blanchett, Evangeline Lilly and Benedict Cumberbatch, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is set for release on 12 December 2014.