The Lord of the Rings The War of the Rohirrim

Not sure how I feel about this news. As much as I love Andy Serkis and still hate how his work in motion capture in general is so grossly underappreciated, I don't see much of a need for this film. The fact that Jackson, Walsh, and Boyens are all involved, including the writing, is promising, but they also gave use The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (granted stretching out the production into three films was more studio driven, it was still so damn unnecessary). I'll wait and see what they have planned before I judge too harshly but color me highly hesitant for now.

 

It's getting better and cheaper. Plus we don't onow how much Aragorn will be in it, nor how many close-ups there would be.

Yeah, not really a fan.

Also even less of a fan of animated entries in live action franchises.

 

I agree. I don't see any need for this. I'd rather see tales from the First Age.

 

Really don't know what to make of this. I think the overall sentiment is one of ... "huh?" Had this been announced sans Jackson and co, I would dismiss it as a very unwelcome, creatively bankrupt money grab.

But Jackson and co are involved, in something which - at least superficially - sounds very underwhelming and unnecessary.

Odd.

 

They’re definitely stretching on this one. There’s what, two or three mentions of Aragorn & Gandalf looking for Gollum in the interim between The Hobbit and LOTR, maybe?

Wonder who they could cast for Gandalf?

Cheers,
-CM-

 

Sounds like an adventure to me.

Why not?

 

Oh, so WB is just remaking fan films now?!



Count me among the not-excited. My favorite high fantasy movies since LotR have skewed toward comedy (Your Highness and Dungeons & Dragons), with lots of magic all over the place. Apart from the Ring, and relatively mundane magical objects like the Star of Whoseywhatsits flashlight and the lembass-flavored Clif Bars, there's not much everyday magic use in Tolkien's stories. That, plus the ultra-serious tone, worked great for the LotR trilogy, but I'm not sure it's a promising source for more adventures...

 

That was deliberate.

 

There are only two ways I can see this working: either they expand the number people searching for Gollum into a group, instead of it just being Aragorn, and have a competing group of Orcs/Men aligned with Sauron who are also searching; or if they use Aragorn's search for Gollum as a framing device for flashbacks to his youth and his adventures as Thorongil.

I'd rather have neither option at all, but if this absolutely must happen, I'd prefer the latter.

 

So would I, but that's not an option. The Tolkien estate is resolute in their determination to not release the rights to The Silmarillion.

 

Could be very interesting, then.

 

...apart from all the stuff that they are allowing Rings of Power to use. Supposedly, there's quite a lot in season 2, although presumably not the stories of Luthien and Beren, the children of Hurin, the fall of Gondolin and so on.

 

Yes, and those instances are handled on a case by case basis between Amazon and the Tolkien estate.

 

"OK, hear me out, the hunt for Gollum but it's slapstick comedy"

 

From the sounds of it this won't be a one off film so... what's this about? Why is catching Gollum such a big deal? And how is it going to be anywhere near on par with the LOTRs movies? Because that's what general audiences will expect.

 

So, the Tolkien estate is "resolute in their determination" to not leave a single penny on the table while they spoon out pieces of The Silmarillion?

 

Perhaps the title The Hunt for Gollum buries the lead.

Samwise: "Somehow, Sauron returned."

Pippin: "Wait. How?"

Merry: <mumbles something about Dark magic in the background>

 

If Warners is going to make more Lord of the Rings films, here's what I want.

Animated adaptations of Fellowship and Two Towers in the Rankin-Bass style. Complete the sequence! Put them in theaters for a week or two, then put them on streeaming and home media.

I wonder if this is what the much-talked-about "bridge film" of fifteen years ago that would go between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings evolved into. I'm curious.

There's a lot wrong with Fire Armies, and I lay much of the blame for that at Tolkien's door. Given more time, I think Jackson, Walsh, and Boyens could have fixed the fundamental problem of that part of the book, which is that the events -- the Battle of Five Armies -- barely involve anyone the reader knows. Bilbo (in the book) sits it out, Thorin and the Dwarves we know are holed up in the mountain pouting. The action is driven by characters we barely know (Thranduil) or have never met (Dain Ironfoot), and there's so much deus ex machina (the arrival of the fifth army of eagles). The approach they took was valid, but it ended up feeling, to me, like a disconnected series of video game boss fights. One fix I'd have made: Dain needed to be introduced earlier (like, in the pre-credit flashback sequence) and have an actual character arc.

Or you go full Rankin-Bass and barely show it. I still love to bits the sequence in the Rankin-Bass where Thorin and Thranduil are fighting, Gandalf appears, and Thorin calls him an "old fool." Gandalf: "Old fool? Behold! An army of goblins approaches from the north with claim to the treasure!" And suddenly Thorin exclaims to Thranduil, "My truest friend and ally!" mere moments after trying to kill him.

I know many people think The Hobbit films -- emphasis on the plural, there -- are misconceived, but I find them quite admirable in that Jackson accomplished what Tolkien attempted to do in the 1960s and could not, which was to tell the story of The Hobbit in the mode of The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien started a rewrite and abandoned it because his LOTR style sapped The Hobbit of all its charm, while Jackson had an established visual and narrative style that he could apply to The Hobbit and was, I think, generally successful in so doing.

 

I'd rather have the Bakshi ROTK ( or "Lord of the Rings, part two" or whatever ).

 

There is clear and obvious difference between Amazon being allowed to mention Morgoth and Amazon being allowed to adapt Morgoth's story.