This weekโs Sunday Night Movie is perfect for a relaxing post-Christmas evening on the couch. Itโs the final instalment of Peter Jacksonโs Hobbit trilogy, The Hobbit: The Battle of The Five Armies.
The trilogy is based on J.R.R. Tolkienโs novel The Hobbit, and The Battle of the Five Armies follows the movies The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Together, the movies serve as a prequel for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, also directed by Jackson.
Here are sixย fun facts about the final film.
1. Thranduil (Lee Pace) rides on an elk, which is played by a horseโฆnamed Moose.
2. Thranduil is the father of Legolas (Orlando Bloom), despite the fact that Pace is 35 while Bloom is 38.
3. Nearly half the film is devoted to the actual Battle of The Five Armies, but in the book the battle only takes up a chapter.
4. Peter Jacksonโs Middle Earth movies are notoriously lengthy. Clocking in at just under two and a half hours, The Hobbit: The Battle of The Five Armies is the shortest of the six.
5. Of the many, many actors in the Middle Earth films, Sir Ian McKellen (Gandalf) and Cate Blanchett (Galadriel) are the only ones to appear in all six.
6. It was the final film in which screen legend Sir Christoper Lee (Saruman) appeared before his death in June 2015. He was 93 and had filmed his scenes in London instead of travelling to New Zealand.
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is showing at 20:05 on Sunday 27 December on M-Net, and at 20:30 on M-Net Movie Premiere.
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