Poster © Warner Bros. Pictures. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
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GenreAdventure & Fantasy
RatedPG-13
Runtime2 hr 41 mins
ReleasedDecember 13, 2013
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorPeter Jackson
StarringIan McKellen, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage
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The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)
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| The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug's Details | |
| Genre | Adventure & Fantasy |
| Rated | PG-13 |
| Released | 12/02/2013 (Los Angeles premiere); 12/12/2013 (New Zealand); 12/13/2013 (United States) |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 2 hr 41 mins |
| Budget | $217–250M (reported) |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Based On | The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien |
| Country | New Zealand, United States |
| Language | English |
| The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug's Interests | |
| General | Barrels, Mirkwood spiders, Lake-town, secret keyholes, an absurd amount of gold. |
| Music | Howard Shore. Ed Sheeran's "I See Fire" plays over the end credits. |
| Movies | The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012). Part one, with way more dish washing. |
| Television | The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Same Middle-earth, thousands of years earlier. |
| Heroes | Bilbo. Smallest guy in the company, does all the heavy lifting. |
| The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug's Crew | |
| Director | Peter Jackson |
| Writers | Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, Guillermo del Toro |
| Producers | Carolynne Cunningham, Zane Weiner, Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson |
| Cinematography | Andrew Lesnie |
| Music | Howard Shore |
| Edited By | Jabez Olssen |
| Production | New Line Cinema, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, WingNut Films |
| Distributed By | Warner Bros. Pictures |
Dwarves in wine barrels, bobbing down a river while elves and orcs fight over them like whack-a-mole: that’s the best action in this whole trilogy. That’s the good news. The bad news is the movie also invents a love triangle between an elf, a dwarf and Legolas that the book never asked for, and it gives Lake-town a pile of politics nobody wanted. Then Bilbo walks into the mountain and finds Smaug, and the movie wakes all the way up. Benedict Cumberbatch’s voice is pure velvet menace, and the dragon toying with Bilbo over that sea of gold is the trilogy’s peak. Mirkwood’s giant spiders will also send anyone who hates bugs straight under a blanket. It made $959.1 million worldwide, so people clearly showed up. A 7.1 because it’s the most fun of the three Hobbit movies, and it stops right when it gets going. $3,192 says you start Battle of the Five Armies before these credits even finish.
What works: The barrel escape and every second of Smaug, whose cat and mouse talk with Bilbo is the high point of the whole trilogy.
What doesn’t: The invented elf and dwarf romance and the Lake-town politics eat up time, and the ending cuts off mid-chase.
Who it’s for: Fans who want the trilogy at its liveliest, and anybody with a soft spot for a dragon with a great voice.
Spoilers
Bilbo finds the Arkenstone and keeps it to himself. The dwarves try to bury Smaug in a flood of molten gold, the dragon shakes it off and flies for Lake-town, and the movie cuts to black right as he goes, while Gandalf is captured by the Necromancer, who turns out to be Sauron.
Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) is still on the road with Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) and twelve other dwarves, racing to reach the Lonely Mountain by Durin's Day, when the keyhole to a secret door should appear. Gandalf (Ian McKellen) splits off on his own errand, so the company crosses Mirkwood alone: giant spiders, plus moody Wood-elves ruled by King Thranduil (Lee Pace). Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly) are on patrol. A bargeman named Bard (Luke Evans) knows the way to Lake-town. And inside the mountain, Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch) is napping on a lot of gold. Peter Jackson directs. One hundred sixty-one minutes, one very large lizard.
Anyone with a spare barrel. Must float.
| Martin Freeman | Bilbo Baggins |
| Ian McKellen | Gandalf the Grey |
| Richard Armitage | Thorin Oakenshield II |
| Benedict Cumberbatch | Smaug |
| Evangeline Lilly | Tauriel |
| Luke Evans | Bard the Bowman |
| Lee Pace | Thranduil |
| Stephen Fry | Master of Lake-town |
| Orlando Bloom | Legolas Greenleaf |
| Graham McTavish | Dwalin |
| Ken Stott | Balin |
| Aidan Turner | Kíli |
| Dean O'Gorman | Fíli |
| Mark Hadlow | Dori |
| Jed Brophy | Nori |
| Adam Brown | Ori |
| John Callen | Óin |
| Peter Hambleton | Glóin |
| William Kircher | Bifur |
| James Nesbitt | Bofur |
| Stephen Hunter | Bombur |
| Cate Blanchett | Galadriel |
| Mikael Persbrandt | Beorn |
| Sylvester McCoy | Radagast the Brown |
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 17 October 2026 DataBot +120 Numbers refreshed: Rotten Tomatoes 74%; Rotten Tomatoes critics 74% (251 reviews); movie.guru score 7.5 → 7.3.
- (cur | prev) 12:00, 17 October 2026 DataBot +2,000 Profile created from Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo: cast, crew, release dates, budget, official trailer.