Peter Jackson Photo: Li Hao/GT

(From left) Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson and Richard Armitage hold Chinese calligraphy reading “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” at a press conference on January 19 in Beijing. The calligraphy also bears a seal of Jackson’s Chinese nickname, "Peter the Great". Photo: Li Hao/GT

Movies poster for The Hobbit: The Battles of Five Armies Photo: Courtesy of Yingxing Tianxia

 
Oscar-winning director Peter Jackson ushered in the final installment of The Hobbit trilogy, The Hobbit: The Battles of Five Armies, to Chinese theaters during a press conference in Beijing on Monday.

The final stop on his current world tour promoting the film, Jackson was joined during his first China visit by the film's screenwriter Philippa Boyens and actor Richard Armitage, who plays "Thorin Oakenshield" in the epic conclusion of the Middle-Earth legend.

A red carpet premiere will be held on Tuesday and the film will hit cinemas on Friday nationwide.

The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies have won millions of loyal Chinese fans, who affectionately refer to Jackson as "Peter the Great."

During the event, Jackson was presented with a gift - 'The Hobbit' written in Chinese calligraphy, along with a large stone-carved seal reading "Peter the Great" to sign the work.

Jackson confessed he felt both "embarrassed" and "honored" by the appellation.

"It's a big pressure to be great," said the director.

Jackson's five previous films based on the J.R.R. Tolkien book series have received a user score of eight or higher on popular Chinese media site douban.com.

"Tolkien's books are genuinely timeless and they are also borderless," Jackson said when asked about the story's worldwide appeal.

"His heroes are not noble knights or kings, the heroes in his books are normal people, ordinary people who make a difference in the world," he said.

Boyens, who has worked on the series with Jackson for about 17 years, admitted that this final installment, which focuses on the trials of Thorin Oakensheild, was less difficult to adapt to screen than The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

"Tolkein began writing it as a children's novel, we have already made the Lord of the Rings, which is a much more epic, grander story," said Boyens.

"People already know the world from the Lord of the Rings, so we couldn't just go backwards and make a children's fairy tale, we have to find a way to move toward what was in the trilogy."

Boyens explained the challenge was in retaining the original down-to-earth feel of the book series.

"We didn't want to lose that flavor, so we wanted it to be different and to reflect the book, but it also needed to capture the imagination of the audience," she said.