This has been brewing for a while and I never posted about it, but now it’s actually happened so here you go. _The Hobbit: There and Back Again_ has officially been renamed _The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies_. Which makes sense for a couple of reasons. Hit the jump to see Peter Jackson’s reasoning and some commentary.

[Peter Jackson’s Facebook Post](https://www.facebook.com/PeterJacksonNZ/posts/10152332243996558?stream_ref=10):

> 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”.

> 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.

> 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.

> Before then however, we have a film to finish, and much to share with you. It’s been a nice quiet time for us—Jabez and I happily editing away in a dark cave in Wellington—but those halcyon days are quickly coming to an end. It will soon be time to step into the light. Expect to see and hear much about The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies in the coming months.

> And there’s also The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Extended Cut, which we’re in the process of finishing, with over 25 mins of new scenes, all scored with original music composed by Howard Shore.

> It’ll be a fun year!

So basically when it was two movies “There and Back Again” made sense and now it doesn’t, which actually does make sense. Bilbo is already at the place where he’s going to spend the majority of the next film after all.

What also makes sense is that “_The Battle of Five Armies_” sounds totally bad ass while “_There and Back Again_” sounds like “how much more walking will there be in this movie anyway?” Which translated from marketing speak means that the former will generate dolla dolla bills y’all while the latter is kind of hard to sell.

I’ll say this though, I’ll bet you all five dollars/* that the full extended three movie box set of The Hobbit will be called “_The Hobbit: There and Back Again Complete Extended Edition_” or something along those lines.

/* bet will not be honored.