Hello, about 4 months ago I finished this edit, which I worked on for about a year. I’ve been constantly updating it and working it with new feedback, but now I think I am done [edit: 2 years later].

Now you’re probably thinking what makes this edit special, why did I do this, there’s already so many edits, well, the simple answer is: There are actually very few one-movie book themed edits. The large majority of edits remove silliness, but keep the made-up sideplots and characters, even if inaccurate. This usually results in cutting 3 movies into 2, usually around 5-6 hours total, or even keeping the 3 film structure. Then there’s the opposite end, I have seen numerous edits that reduce the entire trilogy into just one regular length 2-3.5 hour film, often cutting out book material or keeping moments that weren’t pivotal to exploring Bilbo’s adventure (i.e. losing out on Beorn, keeping Dol Guldur, or an type of combination that wasn’t quite matching the structure of the text).

Instead, I really enjoy the middle ground, which is keeping it long enough to tell the full story of Bilbo, but not too long, and not too short. I have been able to turn the extended editions of the Hobbit trilogy into one long, accurate & enjoyable Middle Earth film that sits better with the LOTR Extended Editions.

Now of course, there are probably two or three other solid fan edits that have taken this same middle ground approach, so I’m not saying mine is the first of its kind - but rather, it’s still an approach that has plenty of room for more interpretation. Personally, none of the other edits I saw were quite what I was envisioning, either trying to be too accurate (skip the entire end of the battle, missing out on character moments) or too inaccurate (missing out on extended Beorn, Mirkwood, an accurate portrayal of Smaug, etc.), so I set out to make my own. The final runtime ended up being 4 hours (excluding credits), so when compared to the extended LOTR trilogy, it fits in pretty well:

The Hobbit – 255 Mins
Fellowship of the Ring – 228 Mins
Two Towers – 235 Mins
Return of the King – 263 Mins

Goals & philosophy when editing:

Be more faithful to The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien while still being under Peter Jackson’s vision. Includes making the story focus on the main quest & also decreasing the numerous references to LOTR, allowing both stories to stand on their own.
Consistent tone as the story progresses from its lighthearted beginning to serious ending. With this, a convincing atmosphere displaying more realistic combat and physics is present throughout.
Maintain professional film editing techniques, specifically with making smooth audio transitions, maintaining a surround sound mix with new edits, and good pacing.
Stay in Middle Earth as long as possible with our beloved characters, never cut anything “good” or from the book purely for the sake of runtime.
Appeal to all Middle Earth & movie fans, regardless of what their prior knowledge is with any of the books or original films.

With these goals in mind, you can see it’s not just about strict book accuracy, but also making sure the movie is still “good” and works as an enjoyable fantasy adventure film.

Summary of Changes:

First off I want to address the “big transition” between AUJ into DoS. I decided to make my edit 2 parts with a split right at the end of AUJ with an intermission right after. This gives the audience a break until moving into part 2 where there has been a small timejump into the start of DoS. The digital version is one movie file while the disc version is actually two separate files. There are now 4 Middle Earth movies with 2 discs each if you watch the Blu-ray ISO version. I really like having AUJ be part 1 and then DoS/BotFA all together in part 2, both for pacing and tonal reasons, in addition to the transition I needed to cover up.
The color grading has been adjusted to look a little more real and closer to LOTR. Less saturation, no green tint, and a slight 35mm film grain added.
Extended Editions were used as a base. Also, this is just a summary, I have done too many changes to list on this thread so definitely feel free to message me if you want me to send you the full cutlist!
There are many new professionally created digital effects made by eric1894, including turning gold-Smaug into looking normal/red, removing arrows from barrels sitting in the background as there was no fight, adding premade Orc tunnels as wereworms were removed, and more!

An Unexpected Party

The movie begins like the book with the hole in the ground dialogue, and we skip the huge prologue. This sequence is not needed, because leaving the audience in the shadow allows for them to learn and discover more about the story as we progress, it also makes it even more special when we finally see the lonely mountain/Erebor. The special features included on the disc version actually do include this flashback, along with 2 others, as three “history shorts” which you can read more about on my website.
New 2 minute opening with old Bilbo as he introduces himself and his story. Frodo cameo reduced to 30 seconds, no dialogue.
After this quick intro of Old Bilbo, we move into the past and the main story. The whole Shire sequence is the same as the original except for a few minor trims for tone.
Blunt the Knives song is kept because it was in the book! But I have removed one stanza and all of the ridiculous plate tricks, so we still get to enjoy Tolkien’s song, while watching Dwarves clean up and toss plates instead of doing a circus act
We are out of Bag End in 30 minutes as compared to the original 45

Roast Mutton

Removed Moria flashback, there is no Azog sideplot/overarching villain. Each sequence of the movie is its own threat and adventure, like the book. Azog shows up marching to the lonely Mountain at the same time as Gandalf warning the others about Orcs. It is explained that they just want to take over the mountain, like the other armies. Azog is still their leader, but is unnamed (so we can assume he’s Bolg), similar to the role of Gothmog or Lurtz, they are all just the “bad guys” that our heroes needs to kill to win. So until that final act, there are no references, hints, or mentions to Azog at all in my edit.
Removed Radagast, in fact, he’s gone from the entire movie along with Dol Guldur.
Toned down some of the Troll silliness. I also removed a few parts of the fight, including Ori using a slingshot. I might as well say, any future instance of Dwarves doing idiotic tricks or moves, dodging arrows with a sword, spinning tricks, hitting Orcs without seeing them, etc. are all removed throughout the entire edit.
Dwarves do not disagree with Bilbo saying they are infected, to delay the Trolls, so the company appears a little smarter now. Throughout this project I have tried to portray the Dwarves as just a little more competent even though they are still comedic sometimes and in the books they were silly too.
The Dwarves explore the Troll cave and then we naturally transition to a new hiking montage of them entering Rivendell, without a warg chase

A Short Rest

Removed some excessive silliness, including the dancing on top of the table at dinner and the Dwarves swimming in the fountain
Removed all of the White Council and references to them, instead, Elrond and Gandalf discuss the quest, Thorin overhears them and gets upset, so he takes the company out of Rivendell first thing in the morning.

Over Hill and Under Hill

No more rock giants, because these were overdone. Instead, the company faces a dangerous thunderstorm and avalanche, so they go inside the cave
Goblin caves color corrected to appear less bright & orange.
Kept the song, like the book, but removed all cringey footage of the Goblin King, so the song is also a tad bit shorter
I still have the Dwarf escape fight later, because the audience needs some more action by now, but as I have said earlier, I’ve removed all silly Dwarf fighting tricks. Overall the escape is much more quicker, skipping the worst parts, down from 4 minutes of fighting to just 1.

Riddles in the Dark

Scene is slightly darker
Bilbo doesn’t see Gollum drop the ring, instead, he just finds the ring on the ground
The audience doesn’t see Gollum’s face close up until he drops in front of Bilbo
The ring falls on Bilbo’s hand like what happened with Frodo in FotR, and it doesn’t spin around so long on his finger

Out of the Frying-Pan into the Fire

Scene is slightly darker
Other than the moments around Bilbo picking up the ring, and the moment we transition from Hobbit to FotR, there are no excessive LOTR music cues, hints, petting the ring, making him angrier because of the ring, etc. like killing the baby spiders. In The Hobbit the ring didn’t really have it’s full power/effect so it wasn’t doing much to Bilbo. No one knows, not even Gandalf, that the ring is extremely dangerous. It is only in FotR when Gandalf/the audience discovers the true power of it, and it starts effecting Bilbo’s personality more.
Wargs and some Orcs come to chase them down, but Azog is not present, as I have described earlier, he only shows up in the final battle. This means no Thorin charge, no Bilbo saving the day, etc. They escape by Eagle, and have a rest on Carrock. Just like the book.

Intermission/insert next disc

Queer Lodgings

Time jump, it is now nighttime and they have progressed a little. But by now, the wargs have almost caught up to them, and Bilbo discovers Beorn. With no choice, Gandalf leads the company out of the forest into Beorn’s house. No random shots of the running across a plain.
Removed all of the Sauron/Azog related talk that starts with Beorn/Gandalf and continues throughout. We are still focused on the company & Bilbo.
Gandalf leaves to investigate the marking he found at the entrance of Mirkwood, and it is explained later that he discovers an Orc army marching towards the mountain. That means there is no more need for the huge Dol Guldur sideplot.

Flies and Spiders

Removed Bilbo going crazy on the baby spider
Removed the Legolas stunt, reduced his character to 60 second cameo. Tauriel has about 60 seconds of screentime as well.
Removed Gimli reference, too on the nose.

Barrels Out of Bond

Follows the book very close, they escape, and we cut the entire river battle with a nice transition

A Warm Welcome

Alfrid reduced to background character with only 1 line. Master removed, except for his part in the town square with Thorin
Removed Bard sideplot, instead, there is just a conflict between him and the master on whether or not the Dwarves should go. No crazy spies, no prophecy, no climbing through toilets, etc. Follows the book here.
All Dwarves leave together to the mountain, no one left behind

On the Doorstep

Dwarves do not give up instantly when it hits night, Bilbo (visually) discovers that there’s still a chance, and luckily, the company didn’t leave so they all gaze upon the key hole and enter together.

Inside Information/Not at Home

Dwarves never enter Erebor, until Smaug leaves
Restructured some of the dialogue with Bilbo/Smaug so it basically mirrors the book (This was really neat)
Smaug breaks out of Erebor, jump cut to the Dwarves hearing a loud crashing sound (That my friend, was a dragon), then we cut to the people of laketown starting to panic because they heard it too, then we cut back to Smaug flying, NO COVERED IN GOLD PART

Fire and Water

Bard doesn’t have to escape jail, he just grabs his bow and gets ready to kill the dragon
Bard kills the dragon without the help of his son
Removed the Master trying to sneak away with all the gold

The Gathering of the Clouds

So many minor cuts, but it flows really well, just like the book, in terms of Bard/Thorin’s dialogue, the aftermath of Laketown, etc. As always, still removing Alfrid/Dol Guldur/Azog
As the Elves, Men, and Dwarves are preparing for battle, we get a brief introduction to the Orcs also coming to attack, they have heard about Smaug’s death (Balin: Word will spread, soon everyone in Middle Earth will know, the dragon is dead - foreshadowing)

A Thief in the Night

Shortened extended scene with Thranduil and Gandalf to appear less harsh towards attacking the Dwarves
As always, removed Alfrid

The Clouds Burst

The dialogue/scene outside the front gate is just like the book, or as close as possible, there’s no references to selling the Arkenstone to Gondor, or Thorin crazily yelling he’ll kill everyone. Dragon sickness is removed in my edit, it’s just a metaphorical thing, relating to greed, mentioned once.
Thorin deals with excessive greed and pride, which he overcomes later. By toning down his craziness/sickness, we don’t have to explain it as a literal “dragon sickness” that runs in his family, because the audience will buy it that he hit his lows but came around in the end.
Here we cut to the Theatrical version of Dain’s arrival, right before they start fighting, they hear a horn sound off, and suddenly Orcs are charging out of tunnels in the mountain and Azog announces his presence.
The BOTFA is extremely restructured, it would be way too much to write about here, in summary/off the top of my head: No goats, no legolas/alfrid/dragon sickness craze/troll catapults. They fight, start losing, Thorin charges out, Bilbo gets knocked out, Thorin/Fili/Kili try to kill the orc leader, but all end up dying, Bilbo wakes up, and we move on.

The Return Journey

Thorin’s funeral has the deleted Gandalf speech perfectly re-inserted

The Last Stage

Removed Bilbo lying to Gandalf about the ring, they part ways as good friends
Redid credits to reflect my edit, any characters reduced from starring list/removed entirely. New music that fits well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8ymgFyzbDo

Video: h264, high bitrate
Audio: 5.1 DTS
Subtitles: Many different languages

This post was all just a summary as I said earlier, so for full project specs, the download, and the cutlist, feel free to message me or comment below!

TLDR: Mine is similar to the Maple Edit for those of you who don’t want to read the whole thing, but what makes my edit stand out is that I have an entirely different vision with new techniques start to finish never done before, even if our goals were similar. My edit takes an approach with minimal Azog, even more accurate to the book (No river battle, we spend more time in Mirkwood, more faithful Smaug sequence), subtle character changes (I don’t have dragon sickness/Bilbo lying to Gandalf/Bilbo’s personality changing from ring), I have my own way of transitioning from movie 1 -> movie 2, instead of cutting from Troll caves -> to Rivendell I now have a natural hiking montage in between, I’ve reduced master/Alfrid even more, I removed Bard’s son helping him kill Smaug, and definitely many more big & small choices that I’ve done to create the best version of The Hobbit that I could for myself. While a lot of people edit under the theme of being a “book edit,” it still leaves so much room for our unique interpretation, opinions, and techniques - which is great, meaning there will never be an “definitive” Hobbit edit; so mine is yet another to the list, with enough of my own creative decisions that I felt like sharing it.