10. The Great Goblin
Peter Jackson has long had a fascination with monsters, from his childhood obsession with
King Kong to his early film-making days in zombie gore fests, and this really shows in the design of the nightmare creatures in
The Lord of the Rings. The orcs, goblins, and Uruk-hai are striking, grotesque monsters achieved on-screen via incredibly make-up and costuming layered over ridiculously capable actors and stuntmen. But one of the more memorable monsters in the story of
The Hobbit shows up rather early, when Bilbo, Gandalf, and the Dwarves find themselves in the clutches of the denizens of the Misty Mountains. The Great Goblin or Goblin King as the film seems to name him - is in the original story for all of a few pages, but provides fodder for one of Gandalf's early total badass moments. And what little we've in toy photos and momentary trailer stills show a gargantuan grotesquely obese creature with flabby pale skin and a jowl that rivals Gloin's beard in length. It seems as though he'll be a CGI creature ala Gollum, but his voice will be provided by Barry Humphries, who's rumbling bass voiced Bruce the Great White in
Finding Nemo. And given that our heroes' encounter with him is one of the biggest contributing factors to the goblin involvement in the Battle of Five Armies, watching this bloated bully bite the big one is something I'm eager to see.