Ian McKellan, who played Gandalf in the LORD OF THE RINGS series, announced on his website [1] that the pair of HOBBIT films will start shooting in June in New Zealand. He said that filming would take over a year and that casting has begun in Los Angeles, New York and London. The script is almost finished and director Guillermo del Toro has already moved to Wellington to be close to Weta in Miramar.
Links:
[1] http://www.mckellen.com/cinema/index1.htm