Hobbit fever heats up

Hobbit mania has officially kicked off.

Director Peter Jackson joined actors from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug via satellite for a live worldwide fan event.

Jackson, who was in New Zealand, told fans shooting the film was intense.

SOUNDBITE: Peter Jackson, director

"I mean normally in a film you have quiet scenes and you have climactic scenes and it sort of all evens itself out but this was like 10 weeks of pretty intense stuff."

Fanatics not only expressed their excitement but also wore it all over.

SOUNDBITE: Renee Graham, Hobbit fan, saying (English):

"Just letting us be a part of it, it's so cool."

Orlando Bloom and Richard Armitage were in New York, Evangeline Lilly held down things in Los Angeles and Andy Serkis, Lee Pace and Luke Evans greeted fans in London.

During the hour-long event, diehards were treated to roughly 20 minutes of exclusive clips from the highly anticipated film scheduled for release on December 13.