An ultimate fan edit that combines Peter Jackson's The Hobbit trilogy into a more captivating faithfully adapted single-movie experience.

The Gathering of the Clouds.

This is the work of M4's The Hobbit - Book Edit, and all credit goes to him for doing this amazing project. I will put some info down below but feel free to check out his website for all information about the project: https://m4-studios.github.io/hobbitbo...

I made a few changes myself - such as removing some unnecessary jokes in Bad End, the Troll scene, in Goblin Town, as well as editing some other parts (House of Beorn, Mirkwood, the Battle). In order to put this on Youtube and avoid copyright issues I had to split it up into 25 Parts - each around 10 minutes each.

M4's own words.

I felt these films had "too much," whether it was all the sideplots, CGI, action, or new characters. As a huge fan of the book, I decided to edit these movies down to match closer to what Tolkien wrote while also rectifying my own critiques. This project is for both the purist and casual fans alike, with the end result providing a more focused narrative that I find more enjoyable and emotionally impactful.

I initially edited with the book at my side, page by page, starting on June 19th, 2019. After numerous revisions to make the edit actually work for general audiences and feel as professional as possible, I finished on December 24th, 2021. I did one last revision in September 2023, where I am now fully satisfied with the cut after many years of work.

Goals & Editing Information

1) Be more faithful to The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien while still following Peter Jackson’s Middle Earth vision. Includes making the story focus on the main quest & also decreasing the numerous references to The Lord of the Rings, allowing both stories to stand on their own.

2) Consistent tone as the story progresses from its lighthearted beginning to more serious ending. With this, display a convincing atmosphere with more realistic combat and physics. This aids in allowing The Hobbit to transition more naturally into the The Lord of the Rings films from an atmospheric perspective.

3) Execute with professional film editing techniques, specifically with making smooth audio transitions, maintaining a proper surround sound mix, and keeping intact the pacing, character arcs, and story structure. Work with lossless sources and avoid any unnecessary quality loss.

4) Stay in Middle Earth as long as possible with our beloved characters, meaning all available footage (theatrical, extended, and deleted) has been considered. Cutting characterization or book-accurate moments just for the sake of runtime is avoided; hence, this edit is branded as its own "Extended Edition" to justify the runtime, fitting perfectly as a prelude to any Lord of the Rings Extended Edition marathon.

5) Appeal to all movie fans, regardless of what their prior knowledge is with any of the Middle Earth books or original films. Understanding the narrative should not depend on other external material.

Sources:
An Unexpected Journey (Footage retained: 1 hour 43 min.) | 40% cut
The Desolation of Smaug (Footage retained: 1 hour 13 min.) | 59% cut
The Battle of the Five Armies (Footage retained: 1 hour 9 min.) | 54% cut


Subtle visual changes to make the films look more natural and match closer with The Lord of the Rings films, while still retaining most of their intended look.

Added 35mm film grain overlay throughout the entire trilogy to reduce the digital look.

The saturation, vibrancy, and green levels have been decreased where necessary to tone down the original color grading, removing the excess colorfulness and greenish tint. These changes vary in intensity throughout the edit - below in the Shire the colors only needed a small nudge.

Runtime:
The Hobbit – 245 Min (3 hours 55 min.) | 51% cut out of the original 8 hours 19 minutes
With the extended Lord of the Rings films at 228, 235, and 263 minutes respectively, I feel this fits right in.

#tolkien #hobbit #thehobbit #lotr