New Lord of the Rings movies in development at Warner Bros

Fellowship should be about relationships, friendship. Jackson's films were never about fellowship. They paid lip service to it, but the interactions between characters felt stilted and contrived, and propped up with childish humor. Frodo, as portrayed, missed the mark.

Do you like any of Jackson's other films? I don't. They feel cheaper than video games. The Hobbit as written would have been an improvement. It's not hard to imagine LoTR films can be improved too. Better dialog, better casting for Frodo and laying off the dwarf "humor" for starters.

What happened is that LOTR hit theaters just as HDTV was becoming widespread and blu-ray adopters were rabid for them. They became home theater favorites, sort of like reference discs. Undeservedly so, I'd say, but I guess I can understand their status as "definitive" HT material.

 

I like Jackson’s films. It’s just his style. Both Heavenly Creatures and The Frighteners I enjoy. The latter reminds me of Robert Zemeckis. His style to me is similar to Zemeckis overall. The Hobbit films are Ok-it could easily have been digested into great one film (maybe two if we are stretching it).

I think Del Toro would have been a better choice for The Hobbit.

 

I wonder how they'll **** this up.

 

I’m waiting to see wjo they choose to helm these.

 

Somehow, Sauron returned.

 

Hope he doesn't do the same kind of hack job he did to "King Kong."

 

They're just gonna make a lotta stuff up -- I don't think there's any "real" Tolkien books left. This is kind of like the endless Star Wars sequel/prequel/add-ons, which (to some degree) are a cash-grab. Warner Bros. is really, really desperate to make some moola these days.

 

I'll give this a look though I'm still in favour of an Anthology Series which could fill in many of the gaps that never made it into the film trilogy while introducing characters like Tom Bombadil, Glorfindel, Prince Imrahil, etc. Maybe even if we had alternate scenarios as well like actually seeing The Scouring of the Shire. It wouldn't all need to be live action especially with numerous actors no longer with us so maybe the animated route could be an option?

Peter Jackson and Co. are in the loop so I'm glad that Amazon isn't involved after the Rings of Power travesty! And I do believe that David Zaslav wants to bring quality back like how James Gunn and Peter Safrin are running DC now.

 

I’m cautiously optimistic.

 

Had to read The Hobbit in middle school.
Read the first LOTR book about twenty years ago.
Probably when the film came out.
I usually bang on about reading the book over the film.
Couldn't get into it at all.
Finished Fellowship and stopped right there.
Read similar books obviously inspired by it, before and after that, and enjoyed them a lot more.
Found them humourless and incredibly boring.

Films were excellent though.
No interest in the television show.

I was working in a book shop at the time, doing the deliveries.
Had to send title pages back to the publisher and throw the book away if they were damaged and unsellable.
Obviously, they went in a pile instead and any staff who wanted one could take them.
A fat, three volume version sat on the pile.
"I only want the middle book", I was told.
So I tore it in three and gave the staff member the middle bit she wanted!
Never seen anybody look so shocked as she did.
Took it though.

They can bang out as many films as they want.
Don't have to watch them all anymore than I have to watch everything Marvel, or Doctor Who is likely to churn out with it's Disney deal; just the good stuff.

 

And then uses the word 'franchise', like it's a football team / fast food restaurant.

 

After those awful Hobbit films I can't say that my enthusiasm is up.

 

The Scouring of the Shire on its' own could make a great movie - in the right hands, of course. And that particular chapter has never been committed to film or TV. I kind of wish the Amazon series was more like you described.

 

I get your point, and I think there's about an 80% chance that what you describe is what would happen. It happened with The Hobbit, which was a major disappointment. I personally don't care if an elf is black, white or green, but the other more important core elements of Tolkien's work, at this stage of the game, are likely to become of victims of too much studio oversight, as you say.

Call me a sucker, but I'll go see every Rocky movie. I'd even go watch a 95 year-old Dirty Harry if Clint Eastwood pulled that stunt. And I'm a sucker for the Tolkien mythology and will gladly watch whatever is committed to film or streaming for better or worse - on the 20% chance that it might be a decent interpretation of the source material. Evidently, there are enough others like me, which illustrates the real "point" of these productions, which is to generate a profit. Others will disagree, obviously, and that's fine.

 

Zzzzzzzzzz….Wake me up when it’s over.

 

The Silmarillion has not been touched. The Tolkien estate has never sold the rights. There is a good deal of material to be mined in that book with characters and narratives only mentioned in passing in the more familiar books and films. Whether or not it would be done justice by Hollywood is a different subject, but there is more material out there - good material if you enjoy Tolkien. I must admit that The Silarillion is not an easy read, and might be too esoteric for the general public. Obviously, Tolkien in the popular culture is defined by The Hobbit and LOTR, but that is not the entirety of his work.

However, as others have stated, the probability that such an endeavor would be done with the same care and reverence of Jackson's original LOTR trilogy is low. I'd still watch it either way.

 

Hollywood is creatively bankrupt, this just proves it again.

 

I'm not convinced this isn't just big talk for the shareholders.

That said, the Helm Hammerhand anime film mentioned in the press release sounds interesting, and is the kind of project that could be more palatable coming out of this deal.

 

Very much a wait and see, could be brilliant, could be awful. I hope it's better than that pile of **** that is the Amazon series, rarely had any big budget production been so poor in practically ever aspect. First draft fan fiction with terrible actors.

Like it or not the source material is set in a northern Europe type location with a masculine dominated society. There are strong women but they are the exception.

So as long as they stick mainly to the source material Tolkien wrote and don't pander to a tiny minority of idiots (which hopefully is the direction) then there is hope.

 

As everyone knows, it's crucial to be historically accurate about race and gender in a world of wizards, magic rings, and dragons.

 

Why? Why? WHY?????

 

Yeah let’s see if we can stretch it to its breaking point like every other freaking story - From Star Wars to Batman.. Let’s have a “young Gandalf”” Prequel followed by “Sam and Pippin: Shire Bros”.

 

More likely Sam: The Town Cryer.

 

No, they always are looking for franchise that guarantee revenue. These are nothing more than desperation to establish more tent pole films in a streaming world. This is no different than The Thin Man series, Frankenstein films, Bond franchise, et. The difference here is that the source material, author and fans deserve better.

 

I love the series to death but that final scene was a little bit teary for me too