Final Hobbit Film's Name Officially Changed To The Battle Of Five Armies

Peter Jackson has announced on his Facebook page that the title of the final installment in The Hobbit trilogy will be The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies. The title for the third Hobbit film was originally There and Back Again. As Jackson explains in the post, that title was originally intended to be for the second movie back when The Hobbit was only planned as two films. Jackson explained that the title no longer felt appropriate for the third film since Bilbo had already arrived "there" by the end of the trilogy's second film, The Desolation of Smaug. After having a conversation with the studio and viewing a final cut of the film, they felt that The Battle of Five Armies was a much more appropriate title for the finale. The Battle of Five Armies was registered by New Line Cinema years ago and was expected to be the name of one of The Hobbit films at the time. However, when the third film began being referred to in official press materials and interviews with cast and crew as There and Back Again, the name was believed to have been dropped. In J.R.R. Tolkien's original novel, which the trilogy is based on, The Battle of Five Armies is the climactic battle at the Lonely Mountain that takes place between an army of Goblins on one side and the united forces of four other armies – the Elves, the Dwarves, the Men of Dale an the Eagles – on the other. It's the kind of massive battle scene that Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy excelled at. We previously reported on a rumor that the third Hobbit film would be receiving a name change, though at the time it was believed that the new name would be the recently registered The Hobbit: Into the Fire. No news on what that title could be for, though it may have just been registered as a possible name once the studio decided that a name change was in order. In The Hobbit, There and Back Again is the title of the book that Bilbo Baggins writes, recounting his entire journey. Jackson mentions that Tolkien originally intended the title to refer to Bilbo's whole adventure and so fans may still see the title used for the inevitable box set of the complete Hobbit film trilogy. In The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies, the Company of Thorin has reached Smaug's lair; but, can Bilbo and the Dwarves reclaim Erebor and the treasure? And, if so, can they hold on to it? The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies comes to theaters December 17.