Now that the two movies are shooting, it was about time that Peter Jackson, MGM and New Line got around to naming them. Well, it’s official: the Hobbit films are going to be called The Hobbit: Based on the novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire and The Hobbit 2: Electric Bilboloo.

Calm down… The actual titles are as follows: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which will arrive in cinemas on December 14, 2012 followed by The Hobbit: There and Back Again on December 13, 2013.

And just in case you’ve forgotten, the cast includes (deep mental breath) Martin Freeman, Orlando Bloom, Andy Serkis, Elijah Wood, Hugo Weaving, Ian McKellen, Cate Blanchett, Richard Armitage, Jed Brophy, Adam Brown, John Callen, Stephen Fry, Ryan Gage, Mark Hadlow, Peter Hambleton, Stephen Hunter, William Kircher, Sylvester McCoy, Bret McKenzie, Graham McTavish, Mike Mizrahi, James Nesbitt, Dean O'Gorman, Lee Pace, Mikael Persbrandt, Conan Stevens, Ken Stott, Jeffrey Thomas and Aidan Turner.

Meanwhile, keeping up his commitment to engage with fans, Jackson has started answering submitted questions on his Facebook page. And he’s kicked off by talking about the likelihood that we’ll see the White Council take action in the new films.

For those scrunching their faces in bewilderment at the mention of the name, the Council was made up of various Elves, Wizards and others who met to maintain the peace and deal with problems through the years in Middle-earth, often focusing on the rising threat from Sauron. Elrond (Weaving), Gandalf (McKellen) and Galadriel (Blanchett) all served at one point. The Council was also involved in driving the Necromancer (actually Sauron) out of his former stronghold in Dol Guldur, forcing him back to Mordor.

“I'm not going to say just what and when, but I will confirm that both the White Council and Dol Guldur will feature in the movies. And not just in one scene either. Just how to visualise it has been a challenge, but fortunately Alan Lee and John Howe went crazy with ideas, and it should look pretty cool."

Jackson also posts a link to an extremely cool picture of the most famous members of the Council meeting on set and brandishing deadly weapons, so be sure to head on over and take a look.