The film's story concludes the adventure of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins and Thorin Oakenshield's company of dwarves, who take possession of the treasure beneath the Lonely Mountain as various factions clash over it, while the orc Azog the Defiler and his forces make their move.
The film stars Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Evangeline Lilly, Luke Evans, Lee Pace, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ken Stott, Aidan Turner, Dean O'Gorman, Billy Connolly, Graham McTavish, James Nesbitt, Stephen Fry, and Ryan Gage. The ensemble cast also features Cate Blanchett, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, and Orlando Bloom. It was Holm's final film before his death in 2020, as well as Lee's final live-action role, although he would be featured as a voice actor in several films released after his death in 2015.
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies premiered in London on 1 December 2014, and was then released on 11 December in New Zealand and on 17 December in the United States, by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $962.2 million worldwide, making it the second highest-grossing film of 2014. The film received numerous accolades; at the 87th Academy Awards, it was nominated for Best Sound Editing.
Bilbo and the Dwarves watch from the Lonely Mountain as the dragon Smaug sets Laketown ablaze. Bard breaks out of prison and kills Smaug with the black arrow. Smaug's falling body crushes the Master of Laketown and his cronies, who were escaping on a boat with the town's gold. Bard becomes the new leader of Laketown and guides its people to seek refuge in the ruins of Dale. Thorin, now possessing the vast treasure in the mountain, searches obsessively for the Arkenstone, which Bilbo had previously found but kept hidden. Upon hearing that Laketown survivors have fled to Dale, he orders the entrance of the Lonely Mountain sealed off.
Meanwhile, Galadriel, Elrond, and Saruman arrive at Dol Guldur and free Gandalf, sending him to safety with Radagast. They battle and defeat the Nazgl and then face a formless Sauron. Galadriel banishes him and his forces and says he will go to the East. Azog, marching on Erebor with his vast Orc army, sends his son Bolg to Mount Gundabad to summon their second army. Legolas and Tauriel witness the march of Bolg's army, bolstered by Orc berserkers and giant bats.
Thranduil and an Elf army arrive in Dale to reclaim a treasure once withheld from them by the Dwarf king Thrr. Bard asks Thorin for the share of gold previously promised to the people of Laketown, but Thorin refuses. Gandalf arrives at Dale to warn Bard and Thranduil of Azog's army, but Thranduil dismisses his advice. Bilbo sneaks the Arkenstone out of Erebor and gives it to Thranduil and Bard so that they can trade it for the promised treasures and prevent a war. Thorin angrily refuses the proposal, while Bilbo chides him for letting greed cloud his judgement. Thorin nearly kills Bilbo but is stopped by Gandalf. Thorin's cousin Din arrives with his Dwarf army, and a battle of Dwarves against Elves and Men ensues, until Azog's army arrives. The forces of Din, Thranduil, and Bard, along with Gandalf and Bilbo, immediately band together against the Orcs. A second front is opened when the Orcs attack Dale, forcing Bard to withdraw his forces to defend the city.
Inside Erebor, Thorin suffers hallucinations of being swallowed up by gold before regaining his sanity, realising his greed and selfishness and leading his company to join the battle. He rides with Dwalin, Fli, and Kli to Ravenhill to kill Azog. Meanwhile, Tauriel and Legolas arrive to warn the Dwarves of Bolg's arrival, and Bilbo volunteers to relay the news to Thorin, using his magic ring to move through the combat unseen. Azog kills Fli as Bilbo and the other Dwarves are forced to watch. Bolg overpowers Tauriel and then kills Kli, who had come to her aid. Legolas battles Bolg and eventually kills him. The Great Eagles arrive with Radagast and Beorn, and the Orcs are finally defeated. In the climax, Thorin engages Azog in a duel and kills him, but is fatally wounded in the process. Bilbo makes peace with the dying Thorin, while Tauriel mourns Kli. Thranduil advises Legolas to seek out a Dnedain ranger in the north who goes by the name Strider. Thorin is buried with the Arkenstone along with Kli and Fli, and Din is crowned King Under the Mountain.
Thorin's company settles back into Erebor, and Dale begins to rebuild with Bard as its leader. Bilbo bids farewell to the company's remaining members and journeys home to the Shire with Gandalf. As the two part ways on the outskirts of the Shire, Gandalf admits his knowledge of Bilbo's magic ring and warns him of it, although Bilbo assures him that he had lost the ring. Bilbo returns to Bag End to find his belongings being auctioned off because he was presumed dead. He stops the sale and starts tidying up his home, revealing he still possesses the ring. Sixty years later,[a] Bilbo receives a visit from Gandalf on his 111th birthday.
Additionally, Peter Jackson and Andy Serkis's daughters made cameo appearances as girls rowing away during Smaug's attack; movement coach Terry Notary and stand-in Jamie Haugh appear as Laketown refugees after the destruction; Conan Stevens, who was to play Bolg, appears as the Keeper of the Dungeons, an Orc captain holding Gandalf hostage and the sons of key second assistant director Guy Campbell, casting director Miranda Rivers, and Weta Workshop founder Richard Taylor appear as Hobbit children during the auction scene.
The Hobbit was originally planned as a two-part film, but Jackson confirmed plans for a third film on 30 July 2012, turning his adaptation of The Hobbit into a trilogy.[10][11] According to Jackson, the third film would contain the Battle of the Five Armies and make extensive use of the appendices that Tolkien wrote to expand the story of Middle-earth (published in the back of The Return of the King). Jackson also stated that while the third film would largely make use of footage originally shot for the first and second films, it would require additional filming as well.[12] The third film was titled There and Back Again in August 2012.[13] In April 2014, Jackson changed the title of the film to The Battle of the Five Armies as he thought the new title better suited the situation of the film. He stated that, had he adapted The Hobbit as a two-part film, the original title may have felt right for the second part which would have included both Bilbo's arrival in Erebor and departure, but after the decision to adapt the novel as a three-part film, it felt misplaced as Bilbo had already arrived at Erebor in the second part.[14] Shaun Gunner, the chairman of The Tolkien Society, supported the decision: "The Battle of the Five Armies much better captures the focus of the film but also more accurately channels the essence of the story."[15]
Initially the film was set for a 18 July 2014 release; however, it was later pushed back to 17 December.[25] The world premiere of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies was held in London at Leicester Square on 1 December 2014.[26][27] The film opened in cinemas on 11 December 2014 in New Zealand, on 12 December in the United Kingdom and on 17 December in the United States. Warner Bros released the film on 18 December in Greece and 26 December, in Australia.[8][28] The film was released in China on 23 January 2015.[29] An extended edition of the film had a one-night-only re-release on 13 October 2015, accompanied by a special greeting from Peter Jackson.[30]
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies was released on 6 March 2015 on Digital Release from digital retailers. The DVD and Blu-ray were released on 24 March 2015 in the United States.[31][32][33][34] It topped the home video sales chart in its opening week.[35] The film earned a revenue of $70.3 million with 3.4 million copies sold, making it the ninth best-selling title of 2015.[36] An Extended Edition of the film, with 20 minutes of additional footage and original music was released on Digital HD on 20 October and on DVD, Blu-ray, and Blu-ray 3D on 17 November 2015 in the United States and on 23 November 2015, in the United Kingdom.[37][38][39]
The Battle of the Five Armies was released in Ultra HD Blu-ray on 30 November 2020 in the United Kingdom and on 1 December 2020 in the United States, along with the other films of the trilogy, including both the theatrical and the extended editions of the films.[40]
Unlike the theatrical version's PG-13 rating, the Extended Edition was rated R by the MPAA for "some violence",[41] which makes it the only Middle Earth film to have a restricted rating and, one of the few films based on a children's book to have an R rating.[42] It was likewise rated MA15+ by the Australian Classification Board for "strong fantasy violence"[43] and the BBFC granted a 15 certificate for "strong violence", the only Middle Earth film with such ratings.[44]
Like its predecessors, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies became a financial success. It has grossed a total of $255.1 million in the US and Canada and $707.1 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $962.2 million.[6][45] In its original theatrical release, it grossed over $956 million, becoming the second-highest-grossing film of 2014 (behind Transformers: Age of Extinction).[46] Deadline Hollywood calculated the film's net profit as $103.4 million, accounting for production budgets, marketing, talent participations, and other costs; box office grosses and home media revenues placed it fourteenth on their list of 2014's "Most Valuable Blockbusters".[5] The film failed to earn $1 billion at the box office, despite various pundits projecting it to reach that milestone. The Hollywood Reporter said that The Battle of the Five Armies was unlikely to gross $1 billion worldwide due to "plunging exchange rates around the globe" witnessed that year, and that Warner Bros. and MGM ultimately would take in nearly $90 million less than expected due to the rising dollar and plunging foreign currencies.[47] Despite this, Forbes declared the trilogy "an unmitigated financial grand-slam for all parties".[48]
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