Who directed The Hobbit film trilogy?

Who directed The Hobbit film trilogy? Peter Jackson directed it. The three films—An Unexpected Journey (2012), The Desolation of Smaug (2013), and The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)—form Jackson’s prequel to his Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Jackson was involved early as a producer and writer, but Guillermo del Toro was initially hired to direct. Del Toro left the project after production delays, and Jackson was confirmed as director in October 2010. That history explains a common mix-up: del Toro helped develop and co-write the project, but he did not direct the released trilogy.

The films adapt J. R. R. Tolkien’s 1937 novel The Hobbit, while also drawing on material from the appendices to The Lord of the Rings. The adaptation expanded the single book into three large-scale films, adding material about events surrounding the quest to reclaim Erebor from Smaug. Jackson also reunited many creative collaborators from the earlier trilogy, including composer Howard Shore and several returning cast members.