The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

[Voronwë the Faithful]

It is now being reported that the estimated running time for BotFA will be 145 minutes, as per "Rohirrim Rider" who says he is a theater manager in the UK. His estimates for DoS and AUJ turned out to be within a minute of being correct.*

* He did cause a stir yesterday by claiming that the run time was 180 minutes, but he has corrected that today.

[kzer_za]

Wow, that's real short for a Middle-Earth movie. Not sure how I feel about it. On one hand, it could help reign in some of PJ's excesses. On the other hand, it might mean there isn't time for much else.

[Passdagas the Brown]

This is the second time PJ has said there are no new characters in BOFA. Is it possible that Dain, as a distinct character (as opposed to simply one of a mass of dwarves) has been removed from the theatrical, ala Thrain? And might it be Fili who gets the crown?

As for film length, it's impossible to judge if this simply means that the film is unbalanced in the direction of bloated action, at the expense of good character work, or if this means PJ has reined in his tendency for bloat. Judging on the goat cart scene, and Bard hurtling down a street in a CGI wagon, I know where I'll place my bets...

[Voronwë the Faithful]

This is the second time PJ has said there are no new characters in BOFA. Is it possible that Dain, as a distinct character (as opposed to simply one of a mass of dwarves) has been removed from the theatrical, ala Thrain? And might it be Fili who gets the crown?

I doubt this is actually the second time Jackson has said this. It is standard journalistic practice to take statements made in previous interviews and put it across as if it was a new statement. I'm fairly sure that this is just a rehash of his previous statement (and PB's previous statement as well), and of no real significance. I would be willing to bet a significant amount that Dain will be in the TE as a distinct character (hence the track "Ironfoot") and that Fili will die along with his brother.

Of course, I was also sure that Thrain would be in the TE of DoS after they hired such an accomplished actor to play him, so what do I know? Still, there was no track on the soundtrack for him in DoS, and he plays a much less direct role in the story as originally written than Dain. I'm still pretty confident that Dain will still be a significant character, despite Jackson's statement about their being no new characters.

As for film length, it's impossible to judge if this simply means that the film is unbalanced in the direction of bloated action, at the expense of good character work, or if this means PJ has reined in his tendency for bloat. Judging on the goat cart scene, and Bard hurtling down a street in a CGI wagon, I know where I'll place my bets...

I suspect that a year from now we will again be talking about how much the EE improved the film in question.

[Elentári]

I knew you would find something to complain about!

Who says I was complaining? I'm looking forward to a good dogfight...

[Voronwë the Faithful]

[THUMBS UP SIGN]

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[kzer_za]

I'm not too worried about Dain getting excluded. PJ has shown in the past that he has no problem with unorthodox endings.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Smaug at the airport in Wellington:

http://www.3news.co.nz/entertainment/ho ... 2014110612

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/62 ... on-Airport

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment ... d=11354295

[Elentári]

So cool! And those lucky winners - truly the experience of a lifetime...

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I split off the trailer discussion to a separate thread so we could discuss it with bothering with spoiler tags.

[Primula Baggins]

And we have to go find it for ourselves? <whines>

[Voronwë the Faithful]

[Elentári]

Another new banner...and one with even more emphasis on Kili!

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I meant to post that earlier, but I got distracted by that silly work thing.

At least Fili is there, even if he is in the back.

[Passdagas the Brown]

That's because Kili becomes King, and marries Tauriel. Thus uniting the realms of elf and dwarf.

[sauronsfinger]

That's because Kili becomes King, and marries Tauriel. Thus uniting the realms of elf and dwarf.

that really makes perfect sense. Obviously their offspring over thousands and thousands of years gets smaller and smaller as the dwarf genes become dominant and explains how the elves became teeny tiny creatures living in trees and making cookies today.

[Passdagas the Brown]

That explains everything! "Kili" plus "elf" plus "blur (as in the experience of a drunken, shotgun wedding)" equals "Keebler."

[Elentári]

Oooh! Tasty tidbit about Galadriel's confrontation with The Necromancer, purportedly from the Sibley Movie Guide, as posted by Lieutenant of Dol Guldur over on TORn:

Hidden text.

From the Brian Sibleys movie guide:
"In coming to Gandalf's aid, Galadriel has to grapple with the seductive power of the Necromancer to draw other beings into a void of darkness, despair and decay. She has to summon every particle of her strengtht to resist and, in doing so, we see Galadriel's incredible power and realize that - but for the fineess and strenght of her spirit - how quickly power for goodness could be turned to evil." Blanchett also says Galadriel "uses the language of the enemy."

ETA: I should have looked at the next thread down over there, because there is a summary of new info from said book, including the quote above, by Carne...

The book arrived today, and while it's sadly focusing more on TDOS and basically a recap of characters, creatures and locations we've heard about countless times before, it's does offer a decent amount of info on the third film.

Hidden text.

1. There's a picture of Bard walking away from the front gate of Erebor, showing the little opening we see in the latest trailer, confirming he's talking with Thorin and not Bilbo as some have speculated.

2. On Galadriel,
- "In coming to Gandalf's aid, Galadriel has to grapple with the seductive power of the Necromancer to draw other beings into a void of darkness, despair and decay. She has to summon every particle of her strengtht to resist and, in doing so, we see Galadriel's incredible power and realize that - but for the fineess and strenght of her spirit - how quickly power for goodness could be turned to evil." Blanchett also says Galadriel "uses the language of the enemy."

3. On the Necromancer: "The Necromancer is confronted at Dol Guldur by Ganfalf, Galadriel and Elrond and is required to fight. To help create these scenes on film, Benedict was kitted up with a motion-capture suit attached to bungee ropes that restrained his movements."

4. On the battle itself there's several pages, so it will take me a long time to quote all of it. Some of the new pieces of info are:

- Azog leads the Dol Guldur Army.

- Bolg leads the Gundabad army.

- The orcs don't march on the mountain for the gold, but rather because Sauron doesn't want the dwarves to re-establish their kingdom. He's fearful that, without the help of Smaug, the dwarves will become a mighty force once more.

5. Richard Taylor on the battle:

- "We have and Elven army riding in to fight alongside a Dwarven army."

- We have Dwarves on huge armored boars and others on battle-machine chariots, pulled by armoured mountain goats. There are burrowing creatures - serpent like worms, giant shrews and moles - that might tunnel under the attacking army and come up in the middle of their forces; and great war-trolls specifically trained - and, in some cases, maimed . in order to make them more insane and effective in battle.

6. Billy Connolly on Dain Ironfoot:

- "He has tattoos on his forehead and cheeks, a big scar down the left side of his face from previous battles, and a broken nose. I've got fiery red hair that goes down my back, a huge red beard embellished with bling that they hook onto my own beard and that reaches to my wairst. The mustache hangs down like a pair of tusks" He wields a double-headed axe. His first appearance in the movie will be him on his boar riding direcly towards the Elven army. Realizing his not going to stop they part for him and he ride between their lines.

7. Elrond has a dramatic swordfight with the Ringwraits.

8. Ravenhill serves as Azog's command post. Instead of the dwarves charging out of Erebor turning the tide by clashing into the enemies they'll instead make their way to Ravenhill to kill Azog, hoping this will send the orcs into disorganization and disarray.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I saw that, and I wondered how

Hidden text.

"The Necromancer is confronted at Dol Guldur by Ganfalf, Galadriel and Elrond and is required to fight"

jived with

Hidden text.

Saruman's "leave Sauron to me" from the trailer

[Elentári]

Maybe Saruman turns up late to clean up after everyone else has had a go!

On the same subject, I was just remembering Sylvester McCoy's comments on what he had filmed of the DG 'assault' back at Armageddon Expo last year, where he said that Saruman was directing the attack from a vantage point...I wonder if all that is still valid, or if it has been changed for a more "intimate" confrontation?