Those were my first two machines bought about 1 month apart.

SM is fast and smooth. Great sounds and callouts from the movies with custom calls from JJJ. Battle Royal is a great and attainable sub wizard mode. Slightly faster and shorter gameplay than LOTR. Very solid and fun game.

LOTR is a bit slower and has longer game times, but it is super deep. Exceptional theme integration. Awesome music, custom dots, quotes and music right from the movies, with custom callouts from Gimli and Frodo.

I think you can't go wrong with either. Pick based on whether you like longer epic games with super deep modes, or slightly quicker games. I have picked games that play differently from ones I already own and that has worked well for me. Or if you love one theme more than the other, that might push you over the top.

I picked up POTC 5th (in order, I got LOTR LE, SM, TSPP, IM, POTC, Xmen LE, TF LE, and AV LE). Obviously I am a big fan of movies and comic themes.

POTC is a very different playing game. Missed shots to the right (i.e. missing the chest or monkey and hitting the surrounding targets) come back very fast and unforgiving. As others have noted, the game is a bit stop and go and less flow. That is not necessarily a bad thing (I like how POTC is different / unique in its feel). Its just that you make a shot, some shit happens, and then the ball makes its way back to you. Ship is the coolest toy in all my collection. Not as deep rules wise, but still very fun. Its my brother in law's favourite in my collection. Lots of action off the slings too. Great music, and the callouts are done by a Johnny Depp sound alike, but they did a GREAT job in that respect. I did not know it was not JD for months after I bought it. Its that good.

I have ranked it lower than SM and LOTR, but it is just such a different bird.