Excited to see the final installment in Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy when it hits theaters later this year? Time to update your most anticipated movies list: The upcoming film, which was previously titled The Hobbit: There and Back Again, has been rechristened The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.
On Thursday, Jackson posted an explanation for the title change to his Facebook account:
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.
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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.
If you still prefer Tolkien's original title, don't worry: Jackson also hints that a future box set collecting all three Hobbit movies will be titled "There and Back Again," reflecting the full scope of the series' story.
