Almost exactly 15 years after he began production on The Lord of the Rings, Peter Jackson is finally putting the finishing touches on his second J. R. R. Tolkien trilogy, The Hobbit. Despite the first two films in the series making nearly $2 billion worldwide, their quality may not measure up to the earlier trilogy, but hopefully things will properly conclude next month, when The Battle of the Five Armies arrives.
“It was like a nuclear confrontation at the end. It was ultimately throwing a ring into lava but till then it was massive superpowers coming together,” Jackson recently said when it comes to the end of The Lord of the Rings. For The Hobbit, however, he says, “The fate of Middle-earth is not really going to swing one way or the other. But there’s a lot of characters we’ve introduced, and some of them we like and some of them who we feel empathy for are going to behave badly because they’re confronted with the ultimate test, which is massive wealth. And it brings out the worst in people.” We now have the final trailer, which can be seen below, along with some posters.
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies brings to an epic conclusion the adventures of Bilbo Baggins, Thorin Oakenshield and the Company of Dwarves. Having reclaimed their homeland from the Dragon Smaug, the Company has unwittingly unleashed a deadly force into the world. Enraged, Smaug rains his fiery wrath down upon the defenseless men, women and children of Lake-town.
Obsessed above all else with his reclaimed treasure, Thorin sacrifices friendship and honor to hoard it as Bilbo’s frantic attempts to make him see reason drive the Hobbit towards a desperate and dangerous choice. But there are even greater dangers ahead. Unseen by any but the Wizard Gandalf, the great enemy Sauron has sent forth legions of Orcs in a stealth attack upon the Lonely Mountain.
As darkness converges on their escalating conflict, the races of Dwarves, Elves and Men must decide – unite or be destroyed. Bilbo finds himself fighting for his life and the lives of his friends in the epic Battle of the Five Armies, as the future of Middle-earth hangs in the balance.
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies opens on December 17th.