BBFC announces 12A rating and 161 minute runtime for The Desolation of Smaug

at 3:57 pm by November 29, 20133:57 pm by Aragorn the Elfstone

The British Board of Film Classification has given The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug a 12A rating and revealed a running time of 2 hours and 41 minutes. This is in line with Philippa Boyens’ assertion, after the release of An Unexpected Journey, that the next film would run shorter than the first installment.

This will make The Desolation of Smaug the shortest of Peter Jackson’s Middle-earth films, running about 8 minutes shorter than An Unexpected Journey‘s theatrical runtime.

Click here to see the BBFC rating page for The Desolation of Smaug.

In this fan’s humble opinion, this is a wonderful length for the film – though all I really care about is that this is a well paced film that tells an engaging and satisfying story within its runtime, regardless of the actual length.