Lord of the Rings (new movie 2026)

The White Wolf

Warner Discovery are on a quest to resurrect all of their most popular IPs, and the latest stop is developing a number of LOTR films, shepherded by Peter Jackson himself, and they're starting with 'The Hunt For Gollum' in 2026, to be led and directed by Andy Serkis.

I'm going to take an alternative view and say I'm not completely against a return to the IP from a studio that actually has the library to delve into in order to take inspiration from, in contrast to whatever the **** Amazon were thinking.

This, along with the Harry Potter HBO series, could yet prove to be part of some sinister master smokescreen from Zaslav in order to sell, but for now I'm happy to sit back as a fan and see what they can do.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/film/article/2024/may/09/peter-jackson-andy-serkis-new-lord-of-the-rings-film-hunt-for-gollum

johnny_ultimate

Never judge a film by its title, but 'The Hunt for Gollum' really sounds like they asked ChatGPT for a Lord of the Rings sequel title.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122119388#Comment_122119388

There was actually a fan production of same name back in 2009 that was well received… based on some of the content Tolkien included in the appendices of LOTR.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunt_for_Gollum

dulpit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122119388#Comment_122119388

It's not a sequel. The hunt for gollum is a prequel and will (presumably) be about when Gandalf sends Aragorn to find Gollum when he's worried about the one ring (i.e. after the Hobbit, before LOTR).

I wonder about casting here. Andy Serkis is fine as Gollum as he'll be CGI'd, but can they bring the likes of Ian McKellen or Viggo Mortensen back 25 years after they portrayed the characters?

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122119454#Comment_122119454

Ian McKellen you might get away with as Gandalf doesn't really age and is mostly beard … but Viggo Mortensen seems like a push unless they de-age with CGI.

Conall Cernach

This seems like it will be stretching the source material almost as much as Amazon did with Rings of Power. Andy Serkis's Gollum wasn't great either, the voice was all wrong for me.

johnny_ultimate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122119432#Comment_122119432

Fair enough! Would never consider myself anything other than a casual observer of Tolkien material, so was not aware a hunt for Gollum was an actual 'thing' :) But still, just at first blush the title came across as relatively uninspiring material to build a film off. But I think it's a series that fundamentally has the problem others do as well - when you've adapted the best known stories, where exactly do you go from there in a way that'll offer mass appeal and rich material to adapt? The main solution would be to 'let it rest', but of course that's not how things work in Hollywood - and especially not how things work in Zazlav's Warner Bros.

Shred

I adore the first 3 LOTR films but the Hobbit Films were largely terrible I thought (thanks in part to a troubled production, I really would have loved to see Del Toro's version) and I still haven't watched Rings of Power, so it's a very much a meh for me initially.

https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/lord-of-the-rings-films-in-development-2026-peter-jackson-involved/

“Lord Of The Rings is one of the most successful and revered franchises in history and we're going to exploit the fúck out of it until people are sick of it,” Zaslav is reported to have said on the earnings call.

Gusser09

Brilliant. Great movies. Serkis nailed gollum. He was excellent.

ancapailldorcha

There's a real quest for more money vibe coming off this. I'll keep an open mind but given how bad the Hobbit films were, I'm not hopeful.

Conall Cernach

He was terrible as Gollum. How he got his harsh, coughing "gollum" sound from how it was described is beyond me. It should be more like a swallowing noise. Peter Woodthorpe's interpretation from the 1981 BBC radio play was spot on in my opinion.

The White Wolf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122129299#Comment_122129299

I don't think studios are wrong for "mining" their biggest IPs. Star Wars, LOTR, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones etc....these are all massive franchises full of possibilities, along with having massive fanbases.

Cashing in on them isn't a problem and is welcome, the problem is half assing the creative process.

Shred

While I agree, too often the reasoning for making more is that there’s money to be made rather than a compelling idea/story and then the end result is invariably tepid at best.

nomdeboardie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122119477#Comment_122119477

"… is mostly beard …" 😂🤣😂

Palmach

Aragorn will be female and Gandalf will be Black Transgender woman. Gollum will be non-binary.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122119527#Comment_122119527

Amazon didn't stretch the source material.

They just made up a whole new thing and put some LotR names in it.

dulpit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122129299#Comment_122129299

The hobbit could have been good if it stayed to just 1 movie. They made 3 movies as long as lotr from substantially smaller source material.

Hopefully they don't try to do the same here.

FortuneChip

It's definitely not an inspiring project.

We've seen Gollum in The Hobbit. We've seen Gollum in The Two Towers. The gap between isn't that interesting. I mean, for one - the hunt outcome is known, he's captured by Sauron, and like, told them "Bagginsssss".

I can't see how it adds anything of value to the existing movies, instead provide some inconsequential retcons?

No obvious spectacle, none of the same themes imbedded in LOTR, almost none of the original fellowship (and hopefully so). And all centred around Gollum, a character we pretty much completed.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058351075/lord-of-the-rings-new-movie-2026

I clicked the link and first thing I seen was Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

Loafing Oaf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122138434#Comment_122138434

And if you thought the prospect of one movie on that theme was uninspiring

https://lrmonline.com/news/ian-mckellen-says-the-hunt-for-gollum-is-planned-as-two-movies/