UPDATE: Shooting will now start in July.Gandalf himself Ian McKellen has confirmed that Guillermo Del Toro will begin shooting his two Hobbit films in June, saying:
THE HOBBIT's, two films, start shooting in New Zealand in June. Filming will take over a year. Casting in Los Angeles, New York City and London has started. The script too proceeds. The first draft is crammed with old and new friends, again on a quest in Middle Earth.
