The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies Trailer Teases The Start Of An Epic War

Death and destruction are coming to cinemas this December. When we last left Middle-earth in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, the titular dragon had been wounded by Bilbo and the band of dwarfs, but was still on its way to Lake Town - which he planned to burn to the ground. As a result, we can expect that things in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies are going to start off on a very dark note, and that's very much reflected in this new trailer.

This is the same preview that debuted at San Diego Comic-Con this past weekend, but now Warner Bros. has released it publicly for all of you to enjoy. Being a teaser, the video really only gives us a taste of what we can expect, but there certainly is a lot to take in. Smaug's attack on Lake Town is really only the start of this final chapter. Like the title suggests, there is also a war brewing in Middle-earth, and there is a great deal at stake.

It's strange to think that this franchise is actually soon coming to an end. While it feels like it was yesterday, it was 13 years ago that Peter Jackson first miraculously brought J.R. Tolkien's incredible Lord of the Rings trilogy to the big screen in a wholly accurate way. Hell, it's even weird to think that it was just four years ago that MGM filed for bankruptcy and it looked like the chances of us ever seeing a Hobbit adaptation were zero. But now production has come to an end, and we are just getting closer and closer to the last movie's release date (and you really shouldn't be holding your breath a movie version of The Silmarillion because that's never going to happen).

Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, starring Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Evangeline Lilly, Lee Pace, Luke Evans, Benedict Cumberbatch, Stephen Fry, Cate Blanchett, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Ken Stott, James Nesbitt, and Orlando Bloom, will be in theaters on December 17th. Are you ready for this franchise to end? Are you sad to see it go? What did you think of the first teaser? Tell us all your thoughts, feelings and opinions in the comments below!

Eric Eisenberg
Assistant Managing Editor

Eric Eisenberg is the Assistant Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. After graduating Boston University and earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism, he took a part-time job as a staff writer for CinemaBlend, and after six months was offered the opportunity to move to Los Angeles and take on a newly created West Coast Editor position. Over a decade later, he's continuing to advance his interests and expertise. In addition to conducting filmmaker interviews and contributing to the news and feature content of the site, Eric also oversees the Movie Reviews section, writes the the weekend box office report (published Sundays), and is the site's resident Stephen King expert. He has two King-related columns.