Peter Jackson renames third Hobbit film, from ‘There and Back Again’ to ‘The Battle of the Five Armies’

Earlier this year Peter Jackson confirmed that he was thinking about changing the title of the third Hobbit installment, and now that change has come. It was confirmed today that the final installment to the trilogy will called “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.” News of the change came from Jackson’s Facebook page earlier today (Thursday) saying that the original title for the film ‘The Hobbit: There and Back Again,’ just didn’t fit with the final cut.
 
“When we did the premiere trip late last year, I had a quiet conversation with the studio about the idea of revisiting the title,” Jackson told fans. “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.”
 
Peter Jackson also stated that the original title works for the entire collection, not as a film, “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,” he teased.
 
The third film is still in editing, and an extended cut of The Desolation of Smaug was confirmed to have “over 25 mins of new scenes, all scored with original music composed by Howard Shore.” If you are excited to hear more about the film, Jackson told fans that they should, “expect to see and hear much about The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies in the coming months.”
 
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is scheduled to release on December 17, 2014.