Officially titled, ‘The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies’, the third and final installment of “The Hobbit” trilogy is one of the most highly anticipated films of the year. The film has been building up fans’ anticipation since the cliffhanger ending of the previous film “The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug”. Although the ending left us leaving theatre in surprise and unfulfilled, we are beyond excited about what’s going to happen next since the awakening of Smaug, the gigantic fire-breathing dragon.
Adapted from the novels of the same name by J. R. R. Tolkien, “The Hobbit” trilogy is the prequel of the fantasy-adventure film, “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy and both are directed by award-winning director Peter Jackson. It was reported that the film is in the post-production stage now and is set to release in theatres on December 17 this year.
Since the trailer has yet to be released, we searched high and low for the latest updates of the film and gathered (almost) everything you need to know to about “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies”. This article may contains spoilers so read at your own risk!
1. Smaug the Magnificent
It is Smaug’s first full appearance in the second sequel of the film and it’s certainly not its last appearance either. Smaug is set to be the highlight of the upcoming film as it flew off to Laketown after a battle with Thorin’s small group of dwarves. WETA Digital Animation Supervisor Dave Clayton said that the dragon will transform into a Laketown killing machine as it is set to destroy the town with its fiery breath. Through motion-capture and a vocal performance, Smaug is played by British actor Benedict Cumberbatch with a slight digital rise in the volume.
2. Extended Cut
Before releasing the third sequel of the trilogy, director Peter Jackson will be releasing an extended cut of “The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug” that consists of over 25 minutes’ worth of new scenes from the previous film and they are scored with original compositions by Howard Shone.
3. Rumoured Release Date of Trailer
As movie trailers now have a rule to be released only a few months in advance, the fans have predicted that the release date of the trailer will be on July 20. The prediction is backed up by the news that the director himself recently approved the release date of the trailer for the film.
4. The Elf Queen Lady Galadriel
Despite the absence of female characters in the original novel, Galadriel the Lady of Lórien has been included in “The Hobbit”, played by Australian actress Cate Blanchett. Since Galadriel was originally not a part of the novel, Cate Blanchett’s was on set for only 8 days of the production for all three films of the trilogy.
5. Film props
If you’ve ever wondered what happens to movie props and costumes after the production wraps up, chances are: they are either stolen or well kept by the cast. While Richard Armitage and Lee Pace were able to keep the swords (the original Orcrist-sword and the elven sword) that were used in the film, Martin Freeman kept extra items - his prosthetic ears along with his character’s sword. During a press conference for “The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug” in Los Angeles, several cast members confessed that they stole a few props including Richard Armitage who stole costume socks and Evangeline Lily who accidentally put a beautiful moon rune in her pocket.
6. Change of title
The film was originally titled, “The Hobbit: There and Back Again” before it was changed to the current one. The primary reason for the change of the title was because Peter Jackson thinks that the title felt misplaced after the film was extended into a three-film arc. On 24th April, he posted the following on his Facebook page:
“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.
7. Frodo
Remember Frodo, the son of Bilbo from the “The Lord of The Rings” trilogy? Well then, rejoice Frodo fans! It was reported that Elijah Wood will reprise his role as Frodo by the end of the film as he was the one who opened the “The Lord of the Rings”.
8. Death scenes (*major spoiler!)
With the escape of Smaug the “killing machine”, we can expect that there will be a lot of tragic death scenes in this film. We absolutely hate to break this to you but a few characters including King Thorin and Tauriel might not survive in the last installment of “The Hobbit” trilogy!
During an interview with The One Ring Net, Richard Armitage confirmed that his death scene has been filmed and he went on to say that the scene surpassed his expectation. In a letter that he sent to cancer survivor Samantha who visited the set of The Hobbit for a special Make-A-Wish experience, he revealed more about Thorin’s final line, “If more people valued home above gold the world would be a merrier place” as he asked for Bilbo’s forgiveness.
As for Tauriel, Evangeline Lily teased about her character’s ending in the film during a Q&A session with her fans on her official Facebook page earlier in March. A very tragic ending, she said. We will keep the possibilities open until we finally see the film!
9. Unnamed character
In the last film, Bard the bowman was captured and imprisoned along with Gandalf when Smaug was awakened. But in the latest installment, it was reported that both of them will be freed by an unknown character in the upcoming film and Bard will lead the way to defeating Smaug.
10. Legolas and his battle
Image: The One Ring Net
“The Battle of Five Armies” is definitely perfect title for the final film as an epic battle between all the kingdoms in the Middle Earth will be unleashed. Legolas will be governing the unity amongst men, dwarves, and elves to defeat their common enemy as it is reported that Legolas and his father King Thranduil will be running after the Orc leader Bolg and the ruthless Orc Azog respectively. Besides that, the romantic triangle continues between Legolas, Tauriel, and Killi.
Now, are you excited or are you excited?