J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit is one of the most successful fiction-based trilogies, with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey garnering approximately $303 million sales alone, according to statistics provided by The Numbers.

The third film adaptation of the trilogy is set to grace cinema goers on December 17, 2014, but fans of both the movie and the original book have petitioned for Thorin Oakenshield not to die on screen.

An online petition uploaded on iPetitions is seeking support to urge The Hobbit production to maintain Oakenshield in the movie despite him being originally killed by Tolkien in the original book version.

The petition for The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies reads:

"Despite the many fans' love to the familiar main characters such as Bilbo and Gandalf, not less we liked Thorin Oakenshield. For many of us, he means more than might be imagined: for each of us, his fans, he represents something different, attractive in his own way, and this is not just a hysterical fan love. We deeply regret that Professor Tolkien killed Thorin in the book, but do not absolutely want and are not going to challenge the correctness of this action. Instead, we decided to turn to you with a request not to kill him at least in the movie."

The said petition is aiming for 5,000 signatures and has already gathered around 342 signatures.

Meanwhile, the third installment of the Tolkien film adaptation has announced that it has changed its name from The Hobbit: There and Back Again to The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies.

Luke Evans, who plays Bard the Bowman, supports the title change.

"We have the Battle of the Five Armies which we focus on, it's a very important part of the story. I think it's right, I think it's appropriate that it's changed and I think Peter would've thought about it with a lot of care," Evans told Digital Spy.