The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

[YRBB]

Titled just changed from "The Hobbit: There and Back Again"

I really liked "There and Back Again" but I guess this will do

Looking forward to it!

Here's Peter Jackson's explanation on his Facebook page:

Inside Information...

Our journey to make The Hobbit Trilogy has been in some ways like Bilbo's own, with hidden paths revealing their secrets to us as we've gone along. “There and Back Again” felt like the right name for the second of a two film telling of the quest to reclaim Erebor, when Bilbo’s arrival there, and departure, were both contained within the second film. But with three movies, it suddenly felt misplaced—after all, Bilbo has already arrived “there” in the "Desolation of Smaug".

When we did the premiere trip late last year, I had a quiet conversation with the studio about the idea of revisiting the title. We decided to keep an open mind until a cut of the film was ready to look at. We reached that point last week, and after viewing the movie, we all agreed there is now one title that feels completely appropriate.

And so: "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" it is.

As Professor Tolkien intended, “There and Back Again” encompasses Bilbo’s entire adventure, so don’t be surprised if you see it used on a future box-set of all three movies.

Before then however, we have a film to finish, and much to share with you. It’s been a nice quiet time for us—Jabez and I happily editing away in a dark cave in Wellington—but those halcyon days are quickly coming to an end. It will soon be time to step into the light. Expect to see and hear much about The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies in the coming months.

And there’s also The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Extended Cut, which we’re in the process of finishing, with over 25 mins of new scenes, all scored with original music composed by Howard Shore.

It’ll be a fun year!

[I Am A Swede]

Can't wait!

I liked the previous title too, but the reasoning behind the change does make sense.

I do fear that this last film will be mainly about the battle, and I'm not all that fond of those huge battle scenes. The battles of Hornburg and Pelennor Fields were part of the reason why I preferred "The Fellowship of the Ring" over "The Two Towers" and "The Return of the King".

I'm really looking forward to the extended version of "The Desolation of Smaug", but it will probably not be released for a few months yet. I've already watched the extended version of "An Unexpected Journey" more times than the entire LOTR trilogy. I'm probably one of very few who thinks that The Hobbit movies are better than LOTR. A lot of that is thanks to Martin Freeman, who is infinitely better as Bilbo than Elijah Wood ever was as Frodo. In fact, as a whole I think the actors, and their characters, are better in The Hobbit than in LOTR.

[I Am A Swede]

Trailer for "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies"

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[YRBB]

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[I Am A Swede]

It looks magnificent! I can't wait!

I'm a bit nervous though because, unlike in LOTR, if they stick to the book there will be some major character deaths and I don't want to dissolve into a blubbering mess in the movie theater......

[I Am A Swede]

Over 324.000 people went to see it in the first 5 days here in Sweden. That's a new record for this year, and it beat last year's "The Desolation of Smaug" which, in the same timeframe, was watched by just over 320.000 people, a record for 2013.

I'm going to see it on Sunday, and I'm so excited!

[YRBB]

I'm glad it's doing well. I'm probably seeing it over the weekend, too!

[I Am A Swede]

Just came home from seeing it, and it was so bloody brilliant!!

We were thrown right into action from the very first moment with Smaug's attack on Lake-town and it never let up after that! For me two of the absolute highlights were that opening sequence with Smaug, and then a little later Galadriel vs Sauron and Saruman/Elrond vs the Ringwraiths. I love it when the big guns go badass!

It's quite noticeable, at least I think so, that CGI has improved quite a bit since the LOTR-trilogy. There was one sequence, involving Legolas and a collapsing stone bridge, where it became slightly more obvious that it was CGI, but otherwise the whole movie looked flawless.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I did shed a tear or two as well, as I had expected. I don't want to spoil too much for those who haven't seen it nor read the book, so I'll just say that there were some major character deaths, just like in the book.

Now that it's over I also feel a bit empty. We'll never go back to Middle-Earth again....

What Peter Jackson has done is amazing. I never thought that LOTR could be successfully filmed, but he did, and then I thought that he could never successfully make three films of The Hobbit, but he did. Now I find myself wishing he could have made four!!

[I Am A Swede]

Only one Oscar nomination for The Battle of the Five Armies....

That makes a total of 7 nominations and (probably) no wins for this trilogy, compared to 30 nominations and 17 wins for the LOTR-trilogy. Most unfair in my opinion, since I think that this trilogy was better than the first one. I know I'm probably one of a very few who thinks this. I might even be the only one....