1. Smaug
As though there were any other choice. This project reunites
Sherlock's Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch only instead of playing Holmes to Freeman's Watson, Cumberbatch will be voicing the great red-gold wyrm himself. Tolkien may not have created the concept of the great dragon sleeping on a bed of stolen gold, but he made it an icon more than any other voice in modern literature. In the decades since
The Hobbit's publication, Smaug has become
the prototypical dragon by which all others are measured. He's a hulking behemoth, a clever riddler, a braggart, greedy beyond measure, and his inflamed temper literally levels entire towns. When Guillermo Del Toro was originally set to direct the film adaptation, he talked about how he wanted to see WETA make the same leaps and bounds in animatronic technology for
The Hobbit that they had for digital animation in
The Lord of the Rings. And as a life-long fan of practical film wizards like Stan Winston, that sounded just dandy to me. Now that was several years and a director ago, but if there was ever a creature that demanded as many techniques as possible to bring it to life, it would be Smaug. Chances are we won't be seeing more than a glimpse or two of him (and those likely far-off during the ballad of the fall of the Lonely Mountain), but whether we catch sight of him in two months or two years, Smaug will surely be worth the wait. Disagree with these choices or think of any we missed? Feel free to sound off below in the comments!