Beorn's role in the movie.

[Zigûr]

Originally Posted by Eomer of the Rohirrim

What a waste.

Given how eager they were for added action, I don't see why they didn't have a scene of Beorn and his fellow bears fighting the Orcs. At least it would have been reasonably true to the source material even if Bilbo never sees it, and would have been a good alternative to the innumerable action shots we got of Elves jumping around shooting arrows at the Orcs. Then again Beorn couldn't have had his new, deeply exploitative angsty backstory of imprisonment and torture if other bears were available, could he?