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[Breaking News] Peter Jackson is returning to produce the first of the new Middle-earth films [2026]

ManaByte

Banned
And he was right to fight the movie, honestly. The fact that it came out ok was more of a happy accident as we learned later with The Hobbit.

And IIRC he didn't even like the movies, which was fine.
Again The Hobbit was the result of the then WB regime running the movie and not Jackson.

Christopher Tolkien hated all of the movies, but he has no problem with selling the Silmarillion rights to Amazon because he published that of course.
 

diffusionx

Gold Member
Again The Hobbit was the result of the then WB regime running the movie and not Jackson.

Christopher Tolkien hated all of the movies, but he has no problem with selling the Silmarillion rights to Amazon because he published that of course.
Yes, that is inherent to the risk of making a movie, anyone can meddle provided they have the rights to do so. It comes with the territory. Heck Jackson fucked up Lovely Bones. That's why I said the excellent LOTR trilogy was a happy accident. It was easily the best we could have hoped for and there were 5000 ways it could have gone wrong.
 
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ManaByte

Banned
Yes, that is inherent to the risk of making a movie, anyone can meddle provided they have the rights to do so. It comes with the territory. Heck Jackson fucked up Lovely Bones.
Except that regime is long gone. They did it to The Hobbit and all of the DC movies. Jackson wouldn’t be making this if they were involved because they NEARLY KILLED HIM.
 
This "studio demanded 3 movies" story persists but Jackson & co explained that it was a creative decision.
The two movie version was supposed to be split right after the barrel scene, with Bard training an arrow on the dwarves. That's an awkward point.
Plus they could not figure out what happens after the dragon dies; that's also where Tolkien stopped writing the book. The difference in pacing and story focus is difficult to handle.
That's in addition to Bard needing a lot of development - in the book he kills Smaug five lines after he's introduced. In a movie, you can't have a random dude kill it and immediately lead the human faction for the final act.

And they still did not finish the third movie until the extended version in 2015.
 

VulcanRaven

Member
I'm excited if they get Viggo Mortensen and Ian McKellen back. They can de-age them like Samuel L. Jackson was in Captain Marvel.
 
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ManaByte

Banned
This "studio demanded 3 movies" story persists but Jackson & co explained that it was a creative decision.
They were running PR for a multi-million dollar movie they made.

You can see that Jackson didn’t want to do it in the Appendices on Five Armies where he’s visibly frustrated on the Erebor set because they never planned on a third movie. The stress from that caused his ulcer to rupture and he was hospitalized and nearly died. That’s why he lost so much weight while making it.
 

ManaByte

Banned
I'm excited if they get Viggo Mortensen and Ian McKellen back. They can de-age them like Samuel L. Jackson was in Captain Marvel.
They both still love the characters. Ian would probably do Gandalf in a wheel chair if he had to and that’s even with the green screen hell from The Hobbit. This movie is much smaller without the 3D filming that had so that won’t be a problem.
 
PJ's ulcer was in February 2011, before anything was shot, and he lost the weight before King Kong.
Plus, it's not just the third movie that went wrong. They brought in Manu Bennet to play Azog four months before AUJ released. They had no idea what they were doing with the Smaug chase, with Thorin's father, or even Smaug's design. I'm lucky to have seen the original four legged beast in HFR!
 

Mossybrew

Member
Surely Andy Serkis has enough money to live comfortably for the remainder of his life, why would he choose to inflict this upon the world?
 
I wish PJs nightmare on elm street 6 script got used. Had some original ideas like a police officer being kept in a comatose state to combat freddy in his realm, freddy losing his powers and kids beat him up in the dreamworld, ect
 
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NecrosaroIII

Ultimate DQ Fan
Plus they could not figure out what happens after the dragon dies; that's also where Tolkien stopped writing the book. The difference in pacing and story focus is difficult to handle.
?

There are 19 chapters in the book, and 5 of them occur after Smaug is killed.
 

Go_Ly_Dow

Member
Flying Sci-Fi GIF by Feliks Tomasz Konczakowski
 

Lord Panda

The Sea is Always Right
For those who don’t know what this is about, it’s from the Appendices.

In the book there’s a 17 year gap between Bilbo’s birthday party and Frodo leaving the Shire. Gandalf and Aragorn spend nearly a decade hunting Gollum during that time.

As there’s no 17 year gap in the movies they’ll shift it to right before Fellowship.

Damn good point about the movie timelines. So the casting for Aragorn and Gandalf will be even more interesting ... maybe Viggo and Ian will indeed reprise their roles and there will be deepfakery / de-ageing shenanigans as clarky clarky speculated.

And as you pointed out, the story is indeed about Aragorn and the shit he endured during his hunt for Gollum. From memory the hunt leads Aragorn all the way to the Dead Marshes, Minas Morgul (or was it the Morgul vale though it would be cool to actually see inside that city), and within sight of Mordor. Hopefully there's a horror element of this movie. We will probably be seeing Legolas and his dad again too 😂
 

ManaByte

Banned
Damn good point about the movie timelines. So the casting for Aragorn and Gandalf will be even more interesting ... maybe Viggo and Ian will indeed reprise their roles and there will be deepfakery / de-ageing shenanigans as clarky clarky speculated.

And as you pointed out, the story is indeed about Aragorn and the shit he endured during his hunt for Gollum. From memory the hunt leads Aragorn all the way to the Dead Marshes, Minas Morgul (or was it the Morgul vale though it would be cool to actually see inside that city), and within sight of Mordor. Hopefully there's a horror element of this movie. We will probably be seeing Legolas and his dad again too 😂
Viggo has said he’d play Aragorn again. So yea just a bit of de aging like Samuel L Jackson in Captain Marvel.
 

mitch1971

Member
Yeah after he fucked the Hobbit im out.

Edit: It can't really be called The Hunt for Gollem? Can it? This is one of those practical joke threads right?
Watch the behind the scenes shows you why the hobbit was a failure. The guy was handed the reigns after Del Toro left (fired?) and had no planning time to do shit. He pretty much had to make it up as he went.
 

Lord Panda

The Sea is Always Right
The Hobbit wasn’t his fault. It was entirely interference from the WB regime at the time. Same ones who did Justice League.

He did the Rings of Power theme.

Yep, and Bear McCreary did the rest of the score - it was solid but didn't quite reach the same heights as Shore's work in the LotR trilogy.
 

Lord Panda

The Sea is Always Right
Competing threads!

It's goddamn doing my head in. I'll ask a mod to merge the threads.
 

clarky

Gold Member
Watch the behind the scenes shows you why the hobbit was a failure. The guy was handed the reigns after Del Toro left (fired?) and had no planning time to do shit. He pretty much had to make it up as he went.
I'm aware. Perhaps i should have said "they" rather than "him" but point stands.
 

March Climber

Gold Member
I'm worried about this idea. I'm afraid we are going to have another situation like Star Wars where every movie and TV show released revolves around the Skywalkers and that era.

the-skywalker-family-v0-haqcbghyv24a1.jpg
 

ManaByte

Banned
Yep, and Bear McCreary did the rest of the score - it was solid but didn't quite reach the same heights as Shore's work in the LotR trilogy.
Some of it was really good. Never saw the last two episodes after the stupid Sauron and not Annatar shit.
 

DeafTourette

Perpetually Offended
Yeah after he fucked the Hobbit im out.

Edit: It can't really be called The Hunt for Gollem? Can it? This is one of those practical joke threads right?

He planned it to be 2 films... But the studio pressured him to stretch it out to be 3. IN THE MIDDLE OF PRODUCTION.

That's why the quality suffered.

Originally LOTR was supposed to be 2 films... He didn't think the studio would do the necessary 3... But thankfully they did. That's why there's a clear difference in quality between the two trilogies. One was made into a trilogy during the pitch meeting. The other was made into a trilogy during the production.
 

clarky

Gold Member
He planned it to be 2 films... But the studio pressured him to stretch it out to be 3. IN THE MIDDLE OF PRODUCTION.

That's why the quality suffered.

Originally LOTR was supposed to be 2 films... He didn't think the studio would do the necessary 3... But thankfully they did. That's why there's a clear difference in quality between the two trilogies. One was made into a trilogy during the pitch meeting. The other was made into a trilogy during the production.
And they are stretching an appendices out to 2 more films. Sound familiar?

Its the same studio and people involved in this that were involved in fucking up the Hobbit as far as i'm aware.

I hope its awesome and he did great on the OG trilogy but this smells of corporate greed again to me.

Before anyone says "but PJ has wanted to tell this story for 20 years!" If that's true why is he not directing this "dream" project?

Also they reckon this is going to be released in 2026? Can't see it being a rush job at all. No chance.
 
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Bojji

Gold Member
It’s from the Appendices where Strider and Gandalf are tracking Gollum before he was captured by Mordor.

Jackson wanted to do it after King Kong but the drama with Christopher Tolkien and the estate killed it.

Who the fuck want to see this story? It's not important at all and and sits between 2 way more important stories. It's the worst kind of prequel.

There are so many great stories in JRR books... Yet they choose this shit or another not that interesting part (this bad Amazon show). First era is full of stuff that would look great in big budget movie.
 

Fbh

Gold Member
The dream team behind Mortal Engines and the director of that shitty Venom Sequel are reuniting for a new LOTR project that will likely be written for "modern audiences"?!?!?!?!?!
hype train GIF
 

Darkmakaimura

Can You Imagine What SureAI Is Going To Do With Garfield?
It's almost sounds like the story for the Gollum game everybody loved so much.

The video game, like this movie, takes place between The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Looking pretty much starts after Gollum gets captured in Mordor.
 

ManaByte

Banned
First era is full of stuff that would look great in big budget movie.
They. Can. Not. Make. That.

Amazon has the rights to select things from the Silmarillion. WB only has the rights to the text of LOTR (including the appendices).
 

clarky

Gold Member
The dream team behind Mortal Engines and the director of that shitty Venom Sequel are reuniting for a new LOTR project that will likely be written for "modern audiences"?!?!?!?!?!
hype train GIF
Not sure if i'm more excited for this or season 2 of The Rings of Power, its close.
 

Mr Hyde

Member
Excited to hear PJ return but Andy Serkis directing is a huge red flag. Let there be Carnage was absolute dog shit so I have no faith in his directing chops. I also don't have much faith in a new LOTR project. Haven't seen Rings of Power because it looks like shit and The Hobbit ended on a sour note with Battle of the Five Armies. Stupid execs will ruin it this time again. Not even Peter and Fran will be able to stop it. I'm just happy we got the magnificent OG trilogy and the first two Hobbits (yes, they are good. Only BotFA is crap).
 

Lord Panda

The Sea is Always Right
Some of it was really good. Never saw the last two episodes after the stupid Sauron and not Annatar shit.

I'm a huge fan of Bear McCreary (BSG soundtrack is so, so good) and I had a listen to some of his RoP tracks this morning and it was better than I remembered. I'll probably give it a decent listen over the weekend.

Yeah, I think I got to the ep a little after "The sea is always right" Numenor bullshit and just noped out. I had better things to do, than getting angry at poorly written fan-fiction.
 
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Lord Panda

The Sea is Always Right
Funny enough, the Gollum game takes place between Hobbit and LOTR just like this movie will.

Yep because the hunt for Gollum as ManaByte ManaByte stated a few times is actually canon and outlined in the LotR appendices. From memory, Aragorn also talks about this harrowing quest during the Council of Elrond as well, and it took a big toll on him. He also mentioned that Gollum stank like shit.
 
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clarky

Gold Member
Andy Serkis didn’t direct that Avi Arad did.
Where you getting that from? Everthing i can find is tales of how great it was to work with Hardy and co.

"Look, I had a ball doing [Venom: Let There Be Carnage]. Tom Hardy is such a good friend of mine, and I felt very proud of the work, and we had such fun doing it," Serkis told Slash Film. "To be the custodian of that franchise for a little while was great. I've got so many projects that I was just about to [work on], like Animal Farm for instance. We were just about to go into production with that, and then we delayed as Venom came up."

Even if true then he has even less experience of handling a film of this size.

Also ManaByte ManaByte you have more avatar changes than Taylor Swift changes costumes. lol.
 
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clarky

Gold Member
He directed an additional unit on Return of the King.
You keep saying that like it makes him Spielberg or something lol.

I could have probably directed an additional unit on ROTK if PJ was looking over my shoulder.

Any ideas how much footage he shot was actually in the movie?
 
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clarky

Gold Member
Yea you’re right it was a tiny movie.
Ok so you have full faith in him after a couple of so so - to terrible movies and a bit of a gig as a second unit director on his pals movie that probably was part of his contract?
 
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Darkmakaimura

Can You Imagine What SureAI Is Going To Do With Garfield?
I love how Peter Jackson went from making shlocky b-movie shock slasher horror movies to making a trilogy that is considered a modern day classic.
 
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