Question: Why on earth does Bilbo remove the ring in front of Smaug? He has no real reason to believe that Smaug won't simply eat him or roast him. Smaug can hear and smell him but can't see him, so as long as he remains still, he is safe unless Smaug gets lucky. Seems like taking the ring off is a huge risk that was not necessary.
Answer: Smaug started talking about the ring, which started drawing the attention of the Necromancer (Sauron), causing Bilbo pain. Remember, wearing the ring made one noticeable to dark forces.
Question: I was watching this movie last night, and I noticed there were a few people of color in Lake Town. The vast majority of people shown in The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings films are white, so are there any particular places in Middle Earth where people of color might be more prevalent, at least according Tolkien's writings?
Chosen answer: People with brown skin come from the land of Harad, to the south of Gondor and Mordor. Really black people probably exist south of it, but is unknown to the people of Middle-Earth. Any land east of Rhun is just as unknown, it's possible people of colour came from there and settled in Lake-Town.
Question: When Bilbo is talking to Smaug, Smaug refers to Thorin as "Oakenshield." How would Smaug know Thorin is called that since the incident with Thorin using the log as a shield didn't occur until after the attack on Erabor?
Question: When Bilbo is inside the mountain, after he wakes Smaug he puts the ring on to hide. After a few moments Smaug says something about Bilbo having something gold but more "precious." Bilbo shudders and takes the ring off as if in pain. Does this imply that Smaug knows what The Ring is? Does he know how truly powerful it is, and the history of it?
Answer: You would have to assume so. Dragons are incredibly ancient creatures and powerfully magic, Smaug would probably have been alive around the time of the rings creation, and even if he didn't know about the history he could have sensed the magic in the ring. But I doubt that he cared much for it other than owning it, as he wouldn't be able to wield it.
Question: Who plays the shape shifter - the man/huge bear?
Chosen answer: The character is Beorn and it is played by Mikael Persbrandt.
Question: Who voices the ring in this movie?
Answer: According to an Internet search, the One Ring is voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch in the movie.
Chosen answer: Bilbo is actually quite clever, I think he was trying to talk his way out by buttering Smaug up. If he tried to run, Smaug, who was on high alert, would have caught him and swallowed him without a second thought. By playing with words he was able to both interest and distract Smaug, and get away.