First pass of the first film is complete. It’s remarkable how easy it was to cut Azog out of the scene with the wargs and pine-trees — a sure sign that he was a relatively late addition to it. I still need to rework the Rivendell narration — I may need to steal an establishing shot or two from FOTR — and I haven’t cut in the new prologue yet. But most of the signature cuts of the edit from the first film are locked, and the running time is for now down to about 80 minutes, or 90 when you include overture, new prologue and opening credits, and I should be able to shave more off. On to part 2!