Tolkien Academy # 32758

[davem]

According to this:
http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1077156370

New Line are planning prequels, sequels, series, whatever, to LotR. Is anyone else afriad that we're going to get a new LotR movie every couple of years, till we're all sick to death of them?

I'll come clean. I loved Fellowship, hated/loathed/despised Towers, & fell in love all over again with Return. But is this scheme of New Line just too much.

What do you think?

A prequel, with Aragorn & Legolas off slaughtering Orcs? A sequel with Aragorn & Legolas off slaughtering Orcs? A cartoon series about Merry & Pippin, living in Fangorn with Treebeard, having hilarious adventures outwitting the wily Saruman (voiced by Alan Rickman if Christopher Lee is unavailable?).

Or can we start the petition now to make them stop after the Hobbit?

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

Unfortunately dave, it matters not what you think. Rather how much money there is to be made. I don't think they can make too many spin-offs though. The general public will get bored before too long.

[Mister Underhill]

While the family still benefits from sales of the books, they signed away their say on any films based on "The Lord of the Rings" or "The Hobbit" when Tolkien sold the rights to MGM. But a new prequel or sequel could be another matter.

Just a guess, but I'd say this is the legal understatement of the year. Unless someone over at the Tolkien family has a major change of heart, I bet they could keep New Line tangled up in rights disputes for years or decades. The sequel-or-prequel threat seems more to me like bluster to help Hobbit negotiations with MGM.

[Samwise]

Hm...any of the above mentioned "sequels" would be....interesting to say the least. Dunno about all the "Aragorn and Legolas off slaughtering Orcs" though. That, from my POV anyhow, could get really old in a hurry.

[Sirithheruwen]

*gasp* How horrible!!! I, for one, will not stand for it. *goes off to steam*

[Carlas]

Even if New Line wanted to make all the sequels and prequels, I doubt they would find many directors who are as dedicated to the movies and books as PJ is. Plus I think they must know that the public will get bored fast, so I don't think they will be willing to spend much money on a movie that is already likely to bomb.

[Kransha]

On that note.

There have obviously been many rumors (some almost affirmed) about all this prequel/sequel-izing, but they are little more than rumors now. Recently I found out that PJ does want to make the Hobbit, but that he may not be able to because of some varying ownership and copyright laws. I honestly wouldn't mind the hobbit, but much beyond that would just be senseless and I don't believe it will be done. If someone had the time, there could be a mice Hexology of the Silmarillion, as epic as the Star Wars hexology for its first few runs. That might wear on one, being so long and draggin in places. But characters can be adapted if necessary, I suppose.

[davem]

Well, there is material in the appendices for sequels & prequels. A Hobbit movie is virtually guaranteed. PJ wants to do it, & New Line would have a guaranteed 1 billion income from it, if the LotR movies are anything to go by.

The real danger is that New Line - which prior to LotR was a company which produced movies like the Mask & Austin Powers - would just look at the financial bottom line, &, lets face it, any LotR/Middle Earth movies would make a massive profit. They have the book rights. It must be tempting. Of course, the further you stray from Tolkien's own vision the more PC the storylines would become. We would have lots of Warrior Princesses & 'hot' Elves slaying Orcs - at least by the time we got to movie 6 or 7. Anyone remember Hawk the Slayer & Krull?

[Finwe]

Oh Holy Eru! That is ridiculous!

The only reason that Star Wars did as well as it did was that George Lucas could make up the story as he went along. He didn't have any books that he needed to stick to, and thus, die-hard book fans he needed to look out for, to limit his "creativity." Any director who even tries making a prequel/sequel to LotR will have to look out for the finances, rabid book fans, and the Tolkien Estate before he even thinks of making a movie. The only reason that LotR was made into a movie without the Tolkien Estate going completely ballistic (Chris Tolkien disinherited his grandson, I believe, so he still went ballistic) was that they didn't have the rights to LotR. The rights had been sold many years before. Chris Tolkien still owns the rights to The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, and all other Middle-earth material, so unless the old dear dies (Eru forbid!) or has an extreme change of heart, I don't think that any movies shall be made. These rumors are nothing more than rumors.

[Diamond18]

As unlikely as the event may be, I cannot help but observe that if the stars were aligned (or messed up like a Shake 'N Bake in the hands of a maraca player) in such a way that made LotR seprequels a reality.... well.....

...Then they should look no further than Barrow Downs RPG players for the scriptwriters. I mean, come on, where are you going to find more dedicated and talented writers who know how to stick to canon and be imaginative about it? I get exhausted just reading the titles for some of the stories. It's the epitmoe of being dedicated to Tolkien-canon but not closed to the idea of quality fanfiction renderings. I'll write you a recommendation if any you wish to apply. (Do they expect credentials from the recommender? Do I need a recommendation to recommend?)

I'm not really serious. Because personally, I would get quite sick of sequel upon sequel upon sequel, even if they were well done or were even based off the Silmarillion. It's not the movie itself, it's all the hype, commercialism and discussion that surrounds it. I can't imagine a future filled with LotR movies to worry about! (And anyway, I see moviemakers wanting to go ahead with made-up sequels instead of chosing a Silmarillion prequel format, since for ideal commercial appeal, you would have to use many of same characters from the Fellowship over and over. Mainstream audiences will be more willing to watch a tale about Legolas than, say, "Beren what's-'is-face". While we would be interested in the Silmarillion, other people might say, "So when is Aragorn gonna show up?")

[Eowyn Skywalker]

Well... I'd like to see a few sequels... and write them too. Prequels... that would be probably boring after a while, but a few ages later... that might be interesting.
If you had dedicated writers, it actually might not get old that fast. Might.
In fact, if you had really good writers, you might even be able to line it up with Star Wars, and the Death Gate Cycle... maybe.
I'd like to see more Lord of the Rings type movies, and books.
-Eowyn Skywalker

[Ransom]

There's always the Silmarilian if New Line gets really, really desperate. ^_^

But I don't think the Tolkien Estate would be too happy if New Line created their own LoTR universe stories. I think they only sold rights to make movies of the FoTR, TTT, and RotK. Wouldn't creating more movies border on copyright infringement?

[Mister Underhill]

The success of LotR has pretty much guaranteed that a bunch of fantasy movies will at least be developed. I just read about someone buying the rights to adapt a series called "Runelords" by David Farland.

[Gorwingel]

Gosh! This is the first time I have ever read that entire article, and I have never noticed that bottom part. I hope though that New Line never thinks of doing that, even though I could see them doing it.

I think actually that they could possibly do it because I think they own the actual film rights to the characters. And I think if you own those that you could probably go ahead with making your own stories without the blessing of the Tolkien estate.

But I highly doubt they would do that. New Line is, I think, in a way trying to set themselves up as a major studio, with Oscar caliber films (which they have never had before, LOTR:FOTR was their first Best Picture nominee), and Oscar caliber studios would just not make stupid prequels
I know though that they are coming out with the Mask sequel and they did come out with the Dumb and Dumber sequel, but LOTR is different. Making a "made up" sequel or prequel would be like trying to make a sequel to Titanic. It would just not make sense. And I could even see Peter Jackson speaking out about it (because I doubt that they would be able to get him to direct it, with him being such a fan of the books and all. And yes he is a fan).

[davem]

Isn't New Line part of AOL Time Warner, which is really struggling financially, or so I hear. The real danger is that the squabbles over the Hobbit may go on so long that they do develop an alternative sequel sufficiently, & then, even if they do make the Hobbit, they may decide, Hey, we've put so much into developing this other movie, lets do it as well. Once that happens, why stop there?

My own fear is that it does become like a Police Academy series, a franchise that just goes on & on, with lower & lower budgets, constantly seeking to be as 'popular' as possible & appeal to as wide an audience as possible - hence the warrior princesses & 'hot' Elves hacking away at Orcs scenarios. The danger with a sequel though, is that it would have to somehow top LotR, be more spectacular, which would denigrate the struggles of Frodo & Aragorn, & make them seem trivial, as more & more movies produced more & more 'supervillains' for our heroes to fight.

The real question is, does New Line have sufficient artistic integrity to stop after the Hobit, & ignore the profits which they would inevitably make from more Middle Earth movies. Movie making is an expensive business, & incredibly risky. More Middle Earth movies means guaranteed, risk free profits.

Anyone see a similarity with the temptation of the Ring?

[Saraphim]

While I would like to see The Hobbit made into a movie, the idea of having multiple, Hollywood-encrusted prequels/sequels/interim stories is frightening. The honor and grace of Tolkien's life's work would diminish to no more than that of cheap action figures.

Oh, wait. That's already happened.

But yes, if New Line decides to capitalize on the books, thing will get much worse. As it was mentioned, we might even see television cartoons that make the 1970's versions of the films look like silmarills.

EDIT:

Anyone see a similarity with the temptation of the Ring?

Heh. I do. Ijust hope the big-shots at New Line open thier eyes to it before its too late

[Lobelia]

While it's possible to do THE HOBBIT, I think we're safe from spin-offs based on the first two Ages, because Christophew Tolkien did the editing on those, they can't possibly be covered by the sale of rights on LOTR and TH...Or can they? I doubt it, though. Thank ghu.

[Saraphim]

May anyone who capitalizes on the works of Tolkien be forever smelling of horse poo!

But seriously, I thought about it and came to the conclusion that we probably won't be seeing anything more than published works, like the Hobbit, which is fairly certain of happening, and the Silmarillion, which is a BIG maybe. (it would not take well to movie or T.V. ; there is no main character. It is set up like the Bible. It wouldn't sell to anyone except die hard fans, like us, of which there is a sadly short supply.)

So we are mercifully spared the Merry and Pippin cartoon, although I can imagine it. *shudders* Hi-jinks prevail.