"The Hobbit: There And Back Again" To be Renamed "The Battle of the Five Armies"

[LordPhillock]

this was... not unexpected for once.

in case you don't want to click the link, here's the excerpt from Peter Jackson's status update on Facebook:

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!

[tom the eldest]

Really?is this true?is so,then this makes no sense.if the title is'the battle of five armies',wouldnt it mean that the films only focus on the battle,not the entire story?its like renaming return of the king to battle of pelennor fields.

[LordPhillock]

you make a good point. I'm imagining how the "Lord of the Rings" titles would sound in that very-direct-and-specific-style:

The Fellowship of the Ring --> A Long-Expected Journey
The Two Towers --> The Army of Saruman
The Return of the King --> The Battle of The Pelennor Fields

jest aside, had they read the book a little more closely, I think "The Gathering of the Clouds" or "The Clouds Burst" or something to that effect would have sounded more interesting and poetic. But in any case, oh well.

[Snowdog]

It really does't matter what one names garbage, it's still garbage.

PJ is probably forward-planning with this name change. He'll still be able to make a 'linking' movie between the end of this one and the beginning of Fellowship, and pocket even more cash usurping the Professor's fine literary works.

[Nerwen]

Originally Posted by tom the eldest

Really?is this true?is so,then this makes no sense.if the title is'the battle of five armies',wouldnt it mean that the films only focus on the battle,not the entire story?

Quite possibly:

Originally Posted by Peter Jackson

...after viewing the movie, we all agreed there is now one title that feels completely appropriate.

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by tom the eldest

Really?is this true?is so,then this makes no sense.if the title is'the battle of five armies',wouldnt it mean that the films only focus on the battle,not the entire story?

Yes.

Of course, the title is completely appropriate - what else is there in the Hobbit movies but battles?

[Lotrelf]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

Yes.

Of course, the title is completely appropriate - what else is there in the Hobbit movies but battles?

Yeah. I'm getting suprised in the book that there weren't really battles(not much). Bilbo doesn't experience any battle except his encounter with the three Goblins. (btw, why did they make Thorin so rude in the movies? He's not like that in the book. He respects Gandalf's decisions, and shows respect towards Elrond too!)

[Nerwen]

"After viewing the movie, we realised it's basically just the world's longest fight scene. Time for a name-change!"

[alatar]

I don't care if PJ calls Hobbit III "Romancing the Arkenstone" or "Return of the Writhe." I'm much much MUCH more interested in those extra 25 minutes of new DoS scenes! Hopefully they've extended the battle, chase and dragon snout disco scenes, as I felt that those were cut a little short.

[tom the eldest]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

Yes.

Of course, the title is completely appropriate - what else is there in the Hobbit movies but battles?

Well,it supposed to tell not only the battle,but bilbo's journey back to shire,the selling of his house,smaug's death,and many other.and also,the attack on dol guldur.right now,pj would make them film just about the battle,but it will be longer.example:smaug join in.gondor and rohan suddenly barge in to the battle.the wise,easterling,mordor,nazgul,anything so that the battle would last for an hour and a half movie.yep,this movie will be suck as hell.

EDIT:and also,gollum will join in,sneaking to bilbo and take the ring.

[Kuruharan]

...here it is.

From the "I knew those rumors were so ridiculous they had to be true" front - I see a dwarf-bearing chariot drawn by rams...which might not have been quite so bad if I wasn't instantly reminded of the silly barrel-riding sequence and at 1:22 I see what can only be an army of dwarves charging in on what can only be a horde of similar rams.

*sigh*

From the "Oh my gosh, how lazy can you get" front - I see orcs that look like they could have come straight from Isengard from The Two Towers (I guess they wanted to reuse the armor to hold down costs) and a song from the previous trilogy.

To say they appear to be phoning it in is an insult to the comparatively high standards of actual phoning it in.

And then we have the end of the trailer. I'm sure New Zealand is a lovely country...but seriously, does the entire economy of the country revolve around these movies now?

[Zigûr]

Beaten me to the punch, Kuru, I was about to post this.

Gut-punch more like.

Dwarves riding rams. For goodness' sake.

"It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing."

[alatar]

Can't wait to get into the heated discussion of which is faster: Radagast's bunny sled or this Dwarven chariot.

[Aganzir]

I'm unimpressed. The amount of recycling old imagery in these films hurts as it is, and now we're even getting Galadriel's feet.

Peter Jackson shows he hasn't improved as a director one bit in these 15 years. Most of the youtube comments seemed doubtful too.

Some scenes did look visually better than the first two films in general, though. And mind you I'm not talking about the CGI and the unrealistic fighting choreographies here.

[Inziladun]

"I will have war!"

Give me a break.

It all seems very much darker than the book. They're trying to build it up to a climax rivaling the big showdown at the Morannon in ROTK. "Recycled" is the best word I can think to describe it. And why does PJ have only two modes with these films: goofy slapstick and overblown dramatics?