The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

***The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey*** is a 2012 epic action-adventure fantasy film, and the first film of a trilogy adapted from JRR Tolkien's book The Hobbit and associated writings.

A prequel, *An Unexpected Journey* forms the first film of the Middle Earth live-action film series, as produced, co-written and directed by Sir Peter Jackson and distributed by New-Line Cinema. It stars Sir Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, James Nesbitt, Ken Stott, Cate Blanchett, Sir Ian Holm, Sir Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Elijah Wood and Andy Serkis as Gollum.

The film was followed by two sequels: *The Desolation of Smaug* in 2013 and *The Battle of the Five Armies* in 2014, and were shot back to back.

## Summary

Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) lives a simple life with his fellow hobbits in the shire, until the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) arrives and convinces him to join a group of dwarves on a quest to reclaim the kingdom of Erebor. The journey takes Bilbo on a path through treacherous lands swarming with orcs, goblins and other dangers, not the least of which is an encounter with Gollum (Andy Serkis) and a simple gold ring that is tied to the fate of Middle Earth in ways Bilbo cannot even fathom.

## Cast

* Ian McKellen as Gandalf
* Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins
	+ Ian Holm as Old Bilbo
* Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield
* Ken Stott as Balin
* Graham McTavish as Dwalin
* William Kircher as Bifur
* James Nesbitt as Bofur
* Stephen Hunter as Bombur
* Dean O'Gorman as Fili
* Aidan Turner as Kili
* John Callen as Oin
* Peter Hambleton as Gloin/Bert (voice)
* Jed Brophy as Nori
* Mark Hadlow as Dori/Bert the Stone-troll (voice)
* Adam Brown as Ori
* Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins
* Hugo Weaving as Elrond
* Cate Blanchett as Galadriel
* Christopher Lee as Saruman
* Andy Serkis as Gollum
* Sylvester McCoy as Radagast
* Barry Humphries as Great Goblin
* Jeffrey Thomas as Thror
* Michael Mizrahi as Thrain
* Lee Pace as Thranduil
* Manu Bennett as Azog
* Conan Stevens as a Gundabad Orc
* John Rawls as Yazneg
* Stephen Ure as Fimbul
* Timothy Bartlett as Master Worrywort
* William Kircher as Tom
* Peter Hambleton as
* Mark Hadlow as William
* Bret McKenzie as Lindir
* Stephen Ure as Grinnah
* Kiran Shah as Goblin Scribe
* Benedict Cumberbatch as the Necromancer and Smaug
* Glenn Boswell as Dwarf Miner
* Thomas Robins as Young Thrain

### Extended only

* Luke Evans as Girion

* Dan Hennah as The Old Took
* Stephen Gledhill as Old Gammidge
* Tim Gordon as Old Hobbit
* Oscar Strik as Little Bilbo
* Sonia Forbes-Adam as Belladonna (Took) Baggins
* Erin Banks as Lobelia Sackville-Baggins
* Brian Hotter as Otho Sackville-Baggins
* Eric Vespe as Fredegar Chubb
* Mervyn Smith as Tosser Grubb
* Ruby Acevedo as Cute Young Hobbits

## Trivia

* Barry Humphries spontaneously ad-libbed the Goblin King's line "That'll do it", before he is killed by Gandalf.
* The Goblin that Gollum kills was played by an actor wearing an animatronic head, and then covered in full-body prosthetic make-up. Andy Serkis was so aggressive in hitting the forehead with the rock that the electronics inside were broken and had to be repaired for more takes the next day.
* If one looks closely during the prologue in the Extended Edition of the film, one can see that Thror's throne in Erebor is built out of the very mountain rock and has veins of gold running naturally through it.
* Three of the actors in this movie played enemies of the comic book hero Captain America: -Sir Christopher Lee (Saruman) played General Miguel in Captain America II: Death Too Soon (1979). -Hugo Weaving (Elrond) played the Red Skull in Captain America: The First Avenger (2011). -Richard Armitage (Thorin Oakenshield) played assassin Heinz Kruger alongside Weaving in the same movie. -Martin Freeman appeared in Captain America: Civil War (2016).
* Martin Freeman, Sir Ian McKellen, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Sir Ian Holm have all played Shakespeare's King Richard III.
* This movie featured seven characters from Marvel roles: Ian McKellen as Magneto in the *X-Men* franchise, Martin Freeman from *Black Panther* and *Captain America: Civil War* as Everett Ross Hugo Weaving (The Red Skull from Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)), Richard Armitage (Heinz Kruger from Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)), Lee Pace (Ronan the Accuser in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)), Andy Serkis (Klaw in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) and Black Panther (2018)), and Cate Blanchett (Hela the Goddess of Death in Thor: Ragnarok (2017)).

* + Freeman and Serkis appeared in *Black Panther* together
	+ Martin Freeman and Richard Armitage both appeared in *Captain America* (Armitage in *The First Avenger*, and Freeman in *Civil War*)
* Martin Freeman (Bilbo) and Benedict Cumberbatch (Necromancer/Smaug) star in Sherlock (2010).
* Thomas Robins, who portrayed Deagol in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) as well as briefly appearing uncredited as the Hand of Gollum in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), appeared in this movie as Young Thrain. He has also had minor roles in other Peter Jackson movies, such as King Kong (2005) and Forgotten Silver (1995).
* John Callen (Oin) auditioned for the role of Radagast, and the voice of Smaug.

### Film connections

Plot points referenced in or referred to in this film.

#### Chronology

* The events in present day take place immediately before the beginning of *The Fellowship of the Ring*
* The past day evenets take place sixty years before *The Fellowship of the Ring*.
* Smaug attacking Lake-town and  Erebor takes place nearly sixty years before the events of the past in this same film and takes place concurrently with the second flashback in The Desolation of Smaug

#### Film connections

* The identity of the Necromancer is revealed in The Desolation of Smaug.
* Bilbo later gives Sting to Frodo in *The Fellowship of the Ring*.
* The true nature of the One Ring and how it got in Gollum's possession is detailed in *The Fellowship of the Ring* and *The Return of the King*.
* Thráin's fate, as well as his ring is revealed in The Desolation of Smaug.

## Sequels

An Unexpected Journey had two films that fallowed. The first sequel was *The Desolation of Smaug*, released in December 2013. The second sequel that fallowed *An Unexpected* Journey *and* The Desolation of Smaug was *The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies*, released in 2014