Well I wouldn't say that Tolkien wasn't "popular" before the movies came out. I mean since the movies it has certainly grown rapidly, and the "enterprise" has expanded, but the books were still rather popular before the movies.
New Line cinema's showing of FOTR on the internet some months before released in theatres attracted over 80 Million viewers. And their second showing a week before release in Theatres over 220 million.
Credit to Jackson and his team for expanding Tolkien's books to a wider audience and bringing readers back to Tolkien (which was my experience. As I read the books and laid them aside for 20 years).
I guess atleast one downside to Jackson's movies is it may not be the best to bring fans into the world of Tolkien, but Jackson's "interpretation" of it, and in many cases Jackson's "interpretation" is way off base. As I see threads of "What parts do you skip?" This is probably the big downside to the movie, because though I do selective reading, sometimes I feel like just reading certain chapters, but I still appreciate the book as a whole. Perhaps, it's just me, but I feel like those who have seen the movies first (the majority, for I know it's not always the case), but I think a lot of them go to the parts they like. And don't appreciate the book as a whole, and find important chapters like
The Council of Elrond,
Treebeard,
The Window on the West, as dull and uneventful, therefor no bother in reading it.
I honestly don't think the "fandom" will die down. When I took my niece to go see the movies (and she hadn't read the books before), she was dissapointed in the ending of ROTK. Not because of "it was too long" but she felt like it wasn't long enough. What happens to the rest of the Fellowship? What happens after? (Which case I introduced her to the books
). So, I think Jackson did a great job of bringing out this story and it left in the case of at least one person of "I wnat to find out more." And for those purists who were dissappointed in Jackson's movies they will always and forever adore Tolkien's books.
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I suppose the greatest change will be that interpretations & back story will both become more & more defined. There will be less & less for a reader to add. Now, that may seem odd coming from me, but I'm not talking about bringing in stuff from the primary world in terms of interpretation, just about the way the story/meaning will become increasingly 'fixed'. There will be less & less room for speculation - about the nature of Orcs, what happens to Frodo, what all those odd references scattered throughout LotR & TH to an older history actually refer to. In a sense we've been told too much by CT~davem
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I disagree. Certainly I think we have all come to learn more and gain more knowledge from the books. Because sites like this bring together some of the most adored fans and "greatest minds" where we share thoughts and ideas, countless threads of those very questions you ask. But I think the fact remains that Tolkien left his stories unfinished. And as Christina Skull points out (one in which I agree with):
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Practically speaking of course, none of the Matter of Middle-earth was ';finished'; but continued to evolve, and was open to second thoughts while Tolkien lived.~The Development of Tolkien's Legendarium- in Tolkien's Legendarium edt, Flieger and Hostetter
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Whether Tolkien left his story purposefully unfinished or not, he didn't have it finished when the books were first introduced. (He didn't even intend on writing as much as he did). But, the story is left unfinished in many circumstances and even while Tolkien was alive he watched it grow and adapt. Which was I think part of his purpose, and why he didn't like allegories. Because allegories strictly set meaning to the text, and Tolkien wanted his readers to experience freedom when interpretting. So, I still think that no matter how much we debate or find out, or analyze the books, the story is left unfinished and there will always be "more debate." Who knows perhaps long after we're dead, and society has evolved, it will have a whole different view about what Tolkien's books "means." And when interpretting it, the meaning will be much different than what is thought of today.