New Lord of the Rings Movies


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Scarab Sages

Warner Bros. To Revamp ‘Lord Of The Rings’ Movies

My first thought, upon seeing this headline, was “Why does the Universe hate us so?”

Of course, it’s not the Universe. Just simple greed and a desperate need for hit movies to bring in cash.

The Jackson trilogy, though imperfect, is probably the best we’re going to get. I honestly cannot see today’s Hollywood doing a better job. If I had to bet money, I’d say it stands a good chance of being a lot worse.


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Bleh. Sounds like stinkers in the making.


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Oh joy. I understand the limited supply of original ideas out there, but the thought of redoing this series of movies within my mortal lifetime as if they were merely relaunching Batman is repulsive.

Liberty's Edge RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16

From what I read, it's not re-doing the LOTR books again, it's new stories and content, more like Rings of Power. Based on the books, but not re-telling them. I thought I read something else about focusing on more unexplored corners of Middle Earth.

Didn't read anything about where in the timeline it will be.

For me the big question is, will this be more like the LOTR movies, or the Hobbit movies? If the first, then I'm all in, but if the second, no thanks.


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Aberzombie wrote:

Warner Bros. To Revamp ‘Lord Of The Rings’ Movies

My first thought, upon seeing this headline, was “Why does the Universe hate us so?”

Of course, it’s not the Universe. Just simple greed and a desperate need for hit movies to bring in cash.

The Jackson trilogy, though imperfect, is probably the best we’re going to get. I honestly cannot see today’s Hollywood doing a better job. If I had to bet money, I’d say it stands a good chance of being a lot worse.

Heaven forbid they try to adapt any of the hundred other fantasy stories written in the last half century.

Scarab Sages

JoelF847 wrote:

From what I read, it's not re-doing the LOTR books again, it's new stories and content, more like Rings of Power. Based on the books, but not re-telling them. I thought I read something else about focusing on more unexplored corners of Middle Earth.

Didn't read anything about where in the timeline it will be.

That sounds like it could be even worse. “Hey, let’s just make up more stuff. Fans love it when we pull stuff out our butts.”


the suites in Hollywood just aren't willing to take a risk on anything that doesn't already have a built in audience.

It sounds like they are going to just make up some sword and sorcery films and slap "Lord of the Rings" on them, expecting the fanbase to just show up regardless.

They gonna give us the epic story of Gandalf's horse next?

Silver Crusade

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Greylurker wrote:


They gonna give us the epic story of Gandalf's horse next?

My Little Pony meets The Hobbit. Throw in some ewoks and it sounds like a moneymaker to me :-(


JoelF847 wrote:

From what I read, it's not re-doing the LOTR books again, it's new stories and content, more like Rings of Power. Based on the books, but not re-telling them. I thought I read something else about focusing on more unexplored corners of Middle Earth.

Didn't read anything about where in the timeline it will be.

For me the big question is, will this be more like the LOTR movies, or the Hobbit movies? If the first, then I'm all in, but if the second, no thanks.

Honestly, it sounds like they've made a deal for the rights and are going to do something with them, but don't have a specific plan yet. Which isn't really surprising at this stage.

There's been lots of speculation, but that all seems baseless and premature.

Scarab Sages

One way I could see this being awesome - they get Jackson and his writing partners to do film adaptations of some First Age stories. Maybe Beren and Luthien. Or The Fall of Gondolin. I would say The Children of Hurin, but that might be a little too dark and creepy for general audiences.

Scarab Sages

The War of the Jewels might be difficult, but possible. And if it did succeed, a good adaptation of a story spanning centuries might serve as a nice “in your face” to Amazon.


Fair assessment on First Age stories I'd say. Beren and Luthien would be a good one I think. Not the Children of Hurin; not when they keep getting screwed over by their own choices among other things and it all turns into a mess. Not sure about the Fall of Gondolin.

If they went back to the Third Age I suppose they might manage something with the North Kingdom and the Witch King, but there's less detail to work with.


I think if you're going back to the first age, you've got to do a major arc, not just individual stories. You need the context.

The stories are also dark as hell - especially Turin, but basically everything. Not sure that's what they'll want.

Scarab Sages

Lathiira wrote:


If they went back to the Third Age I suppose they might manage something with the North Kingdom and the Witch King, but there's less detail to work with.

That’s one of the other thoughts I had. The war between Arnor and Angmar could be pretty cool.

Liberty's Edge RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16

As someone who's not specifically a fan of Tolkien and LOTR (I liked the trilogy movies by Jackson, couldn't stand the Hobbit movies, and enjoying Rings of Power but not my favorite show of all time) I can say that I have about zero interest in the first age stuff. My interest is pretty focused on what mass audiences know - which is Third Age stuff. I'm pretty sure if they did anything First Age, most people wouldn't care too much about it.

As for what might possibly interest me is simply continuing the timeline after Return of the King and the defeat of Sauron. I have no clue if anything was written about this, but in general, I'm much more interested in what comes next, rather than what happened in prequels, especially thousands of years before prequels.


I wouldn't mind if we saw Melkor in more detail honestly...


thejeff wrote:

I think if you're going back to the first age, you've got to do a major arc, not just individual stories. You need the context.

The stories are also dark as hell - especially Turin, but basically everything. Not sure that's what they'll want.

I'm not a copyright lawyer but... afaik no one has any rights to adapt anything Tolkien except the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings (including the appendices).

As for the quality of these hypothetical movies:
Has there been any really good adaptation of anything SciFi/Fantasy between Jackson's LotR trilogy and Dune - part 1?

The latest clip from the upcoming D&D movie is pretty good satire though. Now if there's a scene dealing with Commune and one with a Djinn granting wishes, the trifecta will be complete.

Liberty's Edge RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16

Quark Blast wrote:

I think if you're going back to the first age, you've got to do a major arc, not just individual stories. You need the context.

As for the quality of these hypothetical movies:
Has there been any really good adaptation of anything SciFi/Fantasy between Jackson's LotR trilogy and Dune - part 1?

In movies, maybe not, but in TV, definitely. The Expanse comes to mind, and I'm sure there's others.


JoelF847 wrote:

As someone who's not specifically a fan of Tolkien and LOTR (I liked the trilogy movies by Jackson, couldn't stand the Hobbit movies, and enjoying Rings of Power but not my favorite show of all time) I can say that I have about zero interest in the first age stuff. My interest is pretty focused on what mass audiences know - which is Third Age stuff. I'm pretty sure if they did anything First Age, most people wouldn't care too much about it.

As for what might possibly interest me is simply continuing the timeline after Return of the King and the defeat of Sauron. I have no clue if anything was written about this, but in general, I'm much more interested in what comes next, rather than what happened in prequels, especially thousands of years before prequels.

Tolkien wrote a draft of the first chapter or two of a sequel, but abandoned it. I don't think he really had much of a story to tell, but was driven by audience demand for a sequel.:)


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For these films they have the rights to Lord of the Rings in its entirety (including the appendices), and partial rights to The Hobbit. To do anything with The Hobbit they need the other rights, held by MGM (now owned by Amazon), so have to do a deal with them.

They do not have, and probably never will acquire, the rights to The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales and the other books.

For what films they can make, it's probably a good idea to look at the first one already in production: The War of the Rohirrim. That's an animated film about Helm Hammerhand and the original battle where Helm's Deep played a major role. That has Miranda Otto returning as Eowyn to narrate the story from a post-LotR POV. That's due out next April.

So they could make a film based on Aragorn's younger days, or on the founding of the Shire, or the fall of Arnor in warfare against the Witch-King of Angmar, or they could do a story set 25 years after LotR about Aragorn's tax policies. As long as they can argue it's derived from LotR, they're fine.

Quote:
Has there been any really good adaptation of anything SciFi/Fantasy between Jackson's LotR trilogy and Dune - part 1?

Sure. The Expanse and Paper Girls were great, The Boys is pretty good and Shadow & Bone is decent (probably better than the source material). Tales from the Loop was good, although it didn't have a huge amount to do with the source material. Game of Thrones started off superbly, but fell off a cliff there towards the end. House of the Dragon and The Last of Us have both started superbly. The Martian, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, and Station 11 were all excellent. Season 1 of Altered Carbon was very good. Sandman has been excellent so far, but early days.


Werthead wrote:
Quote:
Has there been any really good adaptation of anything SciFi/Fantasy between Jackson's LotR trilogy and Dune - part 1?
Sure. The Expanse and Paper Girls were great, The Boys is pretty good and Shadow & Bone is decent (probably better than the source material). Tales from the Loop was good, although it didn't have a huge amount to do with the source material. Game of Thrones started off superbly, but fell off a cliff there towards the end. House of the Dragon and The Last of Us have both started superbly. The Martian, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, and Station 11 were all excellent. Season 1 of Altered Carbon was very good. Sandman has been excellent so far, but early days.

Umm.... We're in, Community / Forums / Gamer Life / Entertainment / Movies....

But, yes, for TV several of those have been "really good" indeed. I think there is no serious debate around The Expanse, The Boys, HotD 1-6-ish, and TLOU. Although I don't particularly care for a couple of them and quit watching.

Back on topic:
For movies, there has been a dearth of really good book adaptions my whole lifetime it seems. I'll grant The Martian as an exception, along with Jackson's LotR and Villeneuve's Dune - pt 1 (and hopefully part 2 as well). But for these latest entries into LotR movie-making, I'm far less optimistic. The fact that the first one is a cartoon rather confirms my fears.

Liberty's Edge RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16

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Actually the animated movie was already planned and announced, separately from this recent announcement of the rights to do live action movies.

Liberty's Edge

I seriously hope they leave the stuff that's already been done along but... I will say I think many here are seriously underestimating how awesome a slapstick adult-oriented TV-Serial-like show about Tom Bombadil could actually be.

Liberty's Edge RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16

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Themetricsystem wrote:
I seriously hope they leave the stuff that's already been done along but... I will say I think many here are seriously underestimating how awesome a slapstick adult-oriented TV-Serial-like show about Tom Bombadil could actually be.

Warner Brothers only has movie rights, not TV. Amazon has the TV rights.


This is why we just need to scrap the entire industry and start over.

Liberty's Edge

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Oh... oh no... that's not so grand of an outlook then.


Quote:
Warner Brothers only has movie rights, not TV. Amazon has the TV rights.

Not entirely accurate, although it's a bit of a weird situation. Warner Brothers' rights grant them "screen rights" to Lord of the Rings, not specific TV and movie rights, since that wasn't really a thing when the original deal was done back in 1969.

There was a legal clarification issued in the 1990s, I believe, which ruled that the screen rights for Lord of the Rings included film rights and rights to a television series of more than eight episodes a year. The Tolkien Estate retained the rights to a television series of eight episodes or less a year.

That allowed the Tolkien Estate to do a deal with Amazon separately to make Rings of Power, because they'd produce less than eight episodes a year (and barely eight episodes every two years at this rate).

Amazon did strike a different deal with WB/New Line when Rings of Power entered development, but that appears to have been a clarification deal (to forestall any legal challenges) and also gave them the rights to use certain iconography from the movies in the TV show (i.e. that's why the balrog looks exactly the same, and possibly Sauron in his full armour).

In theory Warner Brothers could make - probably via HBO - a LotR-derived TV show as long as they produced more than 8 episodes a year, but that's a tall order and might lead them into a headache encounter with Amazon that's best left alone.


Not to mention it seems HBO Max is kind of on the down slide...

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