Summary
Warner Bros.’ announcement of a newLord of the Ringsfilm produced by Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens is the stuff of Ringers’ dreams. Countless millennials were first introduced to Tolkien’s worlds through the trio’s ‘00s trilogy, and can’t wait to jump back in with Jackson & co.
There’s a strong sense of nostalgia to the announcement, but it reeks of fan service, too. Now known to be calledHunt for Gollum(working title), withAndy Serkisdonning his mo-cap suit again as well as sitting in the director’s chair, this is a cash-in in every sense of the word. We’re not only going back to the ‘00s film trilogy in terms of cast and those behind the camera, we’re also going back to the events of The Fellowship of the Ring.
What Is The Hunt For Gollum About?
Gandalf and Aragorn hunt for Gollum during the 17 years after Bilbo’s birthday party. Peter Jackson didn’t dwell long on this part of the tale (and skipped the timeskip completely), and neither did Tolkien. But fans have wanted this movie for years. I’ve talked to countless fans of the Jackson movies who have only wantedthisfilm as an addition to the Lord of the Rings Cinematic Universe, despite it being fairly dull plotwise, and with around ten paragraphs of Tolkien to go on.
And you thought The Hobbit trilogy felt like butter scraped over too much bread…
There’s more material the filmmakers could include. The Hunt for the Ring would be an interesting addition from Unfinished Tales, bringing a proper antagonist in the form of Khamul the Easterling, as well as reintroducing another face from the original trilogy, Grima Wormtongue. But it all feels superfluous to me.
What’s the draw of this story? It’s going back to Middle-earth, it’s familiar characters, it’s Peter Jackson again (we’ve collectively ignored the travesty that was his Hobbit trilogy, apparently). I’d put money on a digitally de-aged Aragorn if Viggo Mortensen wasn’t such an old-school method guy. Jury’s still out on Ian McKellen’s return.
There are a few positives. This is essentially a story like Rogue One was forStar Wars, where everyone watching knew the ending before the first puff of popcorn arrived in their gob. I thought Rogue One was superfluous, too, but it was surprisingly good.Andor was even better.
However, these weren’t adapting books. They didn’t have the limitations of Tolkien’s dozen paragraphs of information. They were just filling in blanks that George Lucas had left in his classic space opera.
The Lord Of The Rings: Hunt For Gollum Copyright Strikes Popular Fan Film
However, production of Hunt for Gollum has got off to a bad start before the script has even been finished. As well as treading familiar ground for cinema fans, Hunt for Gollum has also already been made.
Hardcore Rings fans will know that The Hunt for Gollum is a fan film released on YouTube back in 2009. The movie, made in agreement with Tolkien Enterprises, is a 40-minute affair with surprisingly high production quality. Some of the wigs are a bit, well, wiggy, but this was 15 years ago. The filmmakers used lighting very cleverly to hide any struggles with full-face prosthetics and CGI, and the result is an incredible feat of ingenuity on a shoestring budget.
However, within a day of the (new) Hunt for Gollum news reaching our eyeballs, Warner Bros. had copyright struck the fan film, and it was taken down from YouTube. Many news sites had embedded the YouTube movie in their announcement coverage, due to lack of any sort of trailer or official images from the new film.
Two years of work and 13 million views were gone. It was the worst possible start Warner Bros. could have to its marketing, relinquishing any sense of goodwill that fans had towards the idea.
The strike was since reversed and the film is back on YouTube, but the damage is done. Warner Bros. clearly couldn’t cope with anyone else stealing its thunder. Not even a non-profit fan film. Warner Bros. reminded us that this is a cash-in, and nothing more.
The second of Warner Bros.’ new pushes into The Lord of the Rings, it’s clear where the company’s priorities lie. This is about money. That’s why Peter Jackson’s producing. That’s why we’re treading incredibly safe ground. That’s why the film’s entire premise is fan-service. Warner Bros. doesn’t care about Tolkien any more than Amazon (whoat least tried to do something differentfrom the silver screen adaptations we know). I don’t think we’ll get any lore-breaking Balrogs or made-up Mithril magic this time around, but that doesn’t mean I’m not looking towards Hunt for Gollum with trepidation. Be careful with our precious, Warner Bros.
