Could (Should) the Simarillion become a film?

[VanimaEdhel]

I was actually discussing this with some of my Tolkien-fan friends at lunch the other day. I think that, as a whole, it would not be possible to put together "The Silmarillion: The Movie", but if you wanted to take select stories (one chapter at a time) and go in depth for one movie, it would work splendidly. One friend suggested a series of sorts, but I don't know whether they meant for cinema or for television. Unless it would be on one of the wealthier cable channels (HBO, for example), I don't think they could do the tales justice with the epic scale necessary for covering so much history. And doing a series in the movies covering all of the tales would be nearly as hard to contrive.<P>Basically, in my opinion, it would be very difficult to make a movie of "The Silmarillion", but if someone was truly dedicated to it (and was strictly canon), they could turn it into something interesting. However, since it is such a great work, I would not even do as much with it as Peter Jackson did with Lord of the Rings in the way of artistic liberties. I would be horrified if anyone changed anything.<P>At the moment, I think there's more chance of us seeing a version of <I>The Hobbit</I> sometime in the near future (within the next decade or so), as Peter Jackson has spoken of a mild interest, as has Ian McKellen in the way of returning as Gandalf.