SDCC 2014: Hobbit Panel and Trailer Highlights

 San Diego Comic Con 2014 shall always be known to me as “Hobbit-Con” as Peter Jackson has bought his fans to a point where they are willing to stand in line for over thirty hours, mainly to be amongst the first to view the teaser trailer from The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (Or BotFA if you’d prefer). Over ten thousand people queued in order to try and attend the panel hosted by Stephen Colbert (Host of The Colbert Report on Comedy Central) but with a capacity of 7,500 many were turned away. Those who didn’t manage to get in to see the panel weren’t as disappointed as you may think as a 3am visit from Andy Serkis (Gollum, Second Unit Director) and Lee Pace (Thranduil) bought up the spirits of tired, delighted fans. 

 After much speculating as to who would be on the panel to welcome BotFA into the world, director Peter Jackson was joined by cast members: Cate Blanchett (Galadriel), Evangeline Lilly (Tauriel), Andy Serkis (Gollum) Benedict Cumberbatch (Smaug/Necromancer), Elijah Wood (Frodo), Graham McTavish (Dwalin), Lee Pace (Thranduil), Luke Evans (Bard the Bowman, and Orlando Bloom (Legolas) who not only discussed the process of filming, but also had fun with a video that showed some of the films vital characters in rather amusing positions, such as Ian McKellen (Gandalf) dancing in just his underwear while sporting his ever famous ‘Gandalf beard’.

As the panel drew to a close Jackson couldn’t help but smile which instantly gave away the fact that the trailer was soon to be viewed for the first time in public. With a recently extended screen that stretched all around Hall H, the atmosphere that surrounded fans was explosive and truly exciting.

 The trailer itself being a teaser at one minute, forty-eight seconds was packed with true emotion and action which is proved with a view of an age old romance held between Gandalf (McKellen) and Galadriel (Blanchett), as she wanders across the battlefield whilst barefoot to kiss the wounded wizard on the head. From a weepy Tauriel (Lilly) in one shot to golden armour in the next, you truly see the beauty of a director with a true passion for the work of J R R Tolkien.

 While today's trailer was put to ‘The Edge of Night’ (Which is the song that Pippin (Billy Boyd) sung heartily to Denethor (John Noble) in Jackson’s Lord of the Rings: Return of the King), this is not to be the music that holds the trailer together on official release. Warner Bros. are currently working on creating the music to Tolkiens ‘The Walking Song’ (The song that Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin sing before they first encounter what they call a ‘black rider’ in Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring). This song will essentially hold the entire trailer together and give it a simple and yet powerful affect on the viewer.

 Unfortunately this means that those who weren’t at SDCC today will have to wait to view the BotFA trailer, as Warner Bros. refuse to release the version shown today. The full trailer is to be released in October as have the past two trailers Jackson revealed today, and it seems that the entire world shall be seeing this at the same time.

 The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies is set to be released on December 17th, and will be the conclusion of this particular trilogy. You can check out the panel below.