Erik Pancakes said:

Not that I'm trying to criticize anyone's attempts here, but I'm surprised at the number of people who don't seem to want to wait until the EE of BotFA comes out. To me, that's the one that's clearly missing large chunks of important stuff in its theatrical form.

I've always been planning to do a 3-in-1 edit for myself and my relatives/friends (which I will, of course, share online as well), but I decided as soon as the credits started rolling on BotFA that I wouldn't touch it until I had the EE Blu-Ray in hand. There's just too much that's clearly missing that I feel is necessary to build a proper conclusion, especially when I plan on cutting the final battle to complete and utter shreds in my version.

Of course, if the EE comes and nothing substantial is added, I'm gonna be pretty pissed...

People who start working on edits now will be able to step away from the film, get feedback, and revise. By the time the EE is released they'll already be mostly done. Also, as someone who is working on one myself I appreciate being able to compare my edits with others.

On the other hand, if I just wanted to watch the movie I wouldn't be too excited about the current edits.

FigmentJedi said:

Found another project here, calling itself There and Back Again: A Hobbit's Cut

https://ahobbitsholiday.wordpress.com/

Pacing's kinda wonky, but it's a pretty decent book-edit. Actually manages to sidestep the Orcs attacking during the barrel sequence entirely and Azog's been cut out entirely with Bolg in his place.

I watched the first half of this one last night. I'm not crazy about how fast it is, but I like a lot of the choices he made.