The film stars Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Evangeline Lilly, Luke Evans, Lee Pace, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ken Stott, Aidan Turner, Dean O'Gorman, Billy Connolly, Graham McTavish, James Nesbitt, Stephen Fry, and Ryan Gage.

The ensemble cast also features Cate Blanchett, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, and Orlando Bloom.

Thorin, now possessing the vast treasure in the mountain, searches obsessively for the Arkenstone, which Bilbo had previously found but kept hidden.

Meanwhile, Galadriel, Elrond, and Saruman arrive at Dol Guldur and free Gandalf, sending him to safety with Radagast.

Legolas and Tauriel witness the march of Bolg's army, bolstered by Orc berserkers and giant bats.

Inside Erebor, Thorin suffers hallucinations of being swallowed up by gold before regaining his sanity, realising his greed and selfishness and leading his company to join the battle.

[10][11] According to Jackson, the third film would contain the Battle of the Five Armies and make extensive use of the appendices that Tolkien wrote to expand the story of Middle-earth (published in the back of The Return of the King).

[14] Shaun Gunner, the chairman of The Tolkien Society, supported the decision: "The Battle of the Five Armies much better captures the focus of the film but also more accurately channels the essence of the story.

[16] Billy Boyd, who played Peregrin Took in The Lord of the Rings, wrote and recorded the song "The Last Goodbye" for the end credits of the film.

[18][19] To promote the film's release, Wellington-based association football club, Wellington Phoenix, wore a special designed jersey to commemorate the opening of The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies.

[21][22][23] Smaug made a guest appearance, animated by WETA and voiced again by Cumberbatch, on the satire show The Colbert Report on 12 December 2014 to promote the film.

The events of the game take place directly after Sauron fled to Mordor, escaping The White Council, which was shown at the beginning.

[29] An extended edition of the film had a one-night-only re-release on 13 October 2015, accompanied by a special greeting from Peter Jackson.

[46] Deadline Hollywood calculated the film's net profit as $103.4 million, accounting for production budgets, marketing, talent participations, and other costs; box office grosses and home media revenues placed it fourteenth on their list of 2014's "Most Valuable Blockbusters".

[60][61] The film set a December IMAX opening record with $13.4 million (previously held by Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol).

[70][71][72] Through 14 December 2015, it had an opening weekend total of $122.2 million from 37 countries in 15,395 screens,[73][74] topping the box office and outperforming the previous two instalments on a local currency and admissions basis.

[74] The film opened to an additional 59 countries in its second weekend and earned $109 million from 19,315 screens still holding the top spot and fell gradually by 13% as a result of facing minor competitions.

[73] In Brazil, the film scored the second-biggest Warner Bros. opening of all time with $6.8 million (behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2).

[85] MTV reported that early reviews for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies were "generally positive" with critics praising "its energy, shorter running time and satisfying closure".

[86] According to IBT, reviews were mostly positive, with critics "praising director Peter Jackson's effort at transforming J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy novel into an epic adventure film trilogy".

[88] Oliver Gettel of the Los Angeles Times said the critical consensus was that the film is "a flawed but fitting finale to The Hobbit trilogy".

Its consensus reads "Though somewhat overwhelmed by its own spectacle, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies ends Peter Jackson's second Middle-earth trilogy on a reasonably satisfying note".

[91] Audiences polled by CinemaScore, during the opening weekend, gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, the same score as its predecessor.

[60] Scott Foundas of Variety said "The result is at once the trilogy's most engrossing episode, its most expeditious (at a comparatively lean 144 minutes) and also its darkest—both visually and in terms of the forces that stir in the hearts of men, dwarves and orcs alike.

"[92] Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter said "After six films, 13 years and 1031 minutes of accumulated running time, Peter Jackson has concluded his massively remunerative genuflection at the altar of J.R.R.

"[93] Andrew Pulver of The Guardian said "This film is a fitting cap to an extended series that, if nothing else, has transformed Tolkien's place in the wider culture.

But the central battle is indeed spectacular, and as 'The Age of Orc' approaches, it rounds out this particular story in stirring and emotional fashion.

"[95] Russell Baillie of The New Zealand Herald said The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is "something less than the supposed 'defining chapter' of Jackson's time in Middle-earth as it's been billed.

[99] Nicolas Rapold of The New York Times said "Bilbo may fully learn a sense of friendship and duty, and have quite a story to tell, but somewhere along the way, Mr. Jackson loses much of the magic.