Peter Jackson to film "Lord of the Rings Sequels"

[Herald_of_Mandos]

Just heard about this! I'm so excited!!!

http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2013/07/01/666-jackson-lotr-sequels

Fans hooked on “An Unexpected Journey”, the Academy Award-nominated first installment of “The Hobbit”, may already be wondering how in Middle-earth they’re going to get their Tolkien fix after the series finally reaches its stunning conclusion– but there’s hope ahead!

Sir Peter Jackson announced today that he is planning a further trilogy of films set in the magical world created by J.K. Tolkien, Jr., beginning where “The Lord of the Rings” left off.

Apart from introducing fans to new– but authentic– characters such as hobbit-warrioress Elanor Gamgee and Aragorn’s rebellious son Eldarion, the sequels will also feature all the much-loved “Lord of the Rings” favourites.

“By the time we get around to filming, the cast are going to look a lot older than they did in ‘Lord of the Rings’,” Jackson admits, “which might be an issue with characters like Elrond, Legolas or Galadriel who are supposed to be immortal. But I’m confident the animation team will be able to handle that– they’re already hard at work on the CGI replicas.”

Dismissing concerns that the sequels might fall short of the standard of faithfulness to Tolkien’s work that has AUJ audiences raving, Jackson explains, “Look, we’re not just making this up out of thin air– I don’t know why anyone would think that. What people have to realise is that Tolkien himself always fully intended to continue the saga. In fact, he actually partly finished the next book in the series, ‘The New Shadow’.”

The sequel trilogy, detailing the adventures of Frodo, Sam and Aragorn’s children, and their struggle against evil as the Dark Lord Sauron once more threatens Middle-earth, was cut short by Dr Tolkien’s tragically early death. Fortunately, the author once again left extensive notes behind him in the form of “Appendices” to one of the editions of “The Return of the King”.

“They describe the future history of Middle-earth, what happens to all the characters in later life, and so on. There’s a whole lot of material there, and what we’ve done is to take that material and weave it together with the foreshadowing Tolkien put in 'Lord of the Rings' itself, for instance where Gandalf or Elrond talks about how evil will always return.

'There’s nothing, essentially, that isn’t based on Tolkien’s own writing.”

Despite widespread acclaim for “An Unexpected Journey”, which many critics place among the top three-quarters of movies for 2012, the director says there are some things he will do differently this time around.

“Not everyone was happy with the frame-rate– I now think myself that shooting at 48 fps may have been a mistake.

‘This time, it’ll be 96 fps.”

[Morsul the Dark]

I expected the article to be a joke. But it wasn't the article bravo.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

In other news, PJ and Christopher Tolkien will be cooperating on planned Silmarillion movies:

After the success of the ”Lord of the Rings” trilogy and the first installment of the “Hobbit” series fans were continuously debating if New Zealand director Peter Jackson were going to make a film version of “The Silmarillion”. Until now this topic was under a big question mark and not just because it is a book with an entirely different narrative structure. The main issue was the situation with the copyrights: as opposed to “The Hobbit” and “LOTR” the rights to “Silmarillion” are with Tolkien Estate and its head, Christopher Tolkien, son and literary heir to the Professor. Christopher Tolkien was known to be very reserved about movie versions of his father’s works. A stalemate – until now.

Today an announcement was made which is going to give fans another chance to dive into the world of Middle-Earth on the big screen. Peter Jackson has struck a deal with Christopher Tolkien and will be directing “The Silmarillion”!

For the entire press releases, please read more here.

[Morsul the Dark]

Originally Posted by Estelyn Telcontar

In other news, PJ and Christopher Tolkien will be cooperating on planned Silmarillion movies:

For the entire press releases, please read more here.

So I started reading in German(I speak it so was sort of phonetically sounding out) then all of a sudden I said to myself wow this is easy! My brain didn't realize until a couple sentences in they had switched to English...

Go brain.

[Mithalwen]

Cheers Herald. Gold dust once again....hope life is good in San Seriffe.

[Inziladun]

I notice no one went for a "Peter Jackson To Apologize for Changes; Will Donate All Profits to Estate" story. That's just too outlandish for April 01.

[Dark Lord]

Yeah, that's why I hate Aprils Fools. I really hope PJ makes a lotr sequel though.

[Zigûr]

Originally Posted by Dark Lord

I really hope PJ makes a lotr sequel though.

Even though there's no substantial source material to base one on?

It's interesting to think that The Lord of the Rings has to be one of those rare examples in fiction where a sequel actually lives up to the standard of the original, and in this case enlarges it and contributes something more (whether it improves upon it is a matter of taste). Modern culture is so content with sequels (or prequels) that re-tread the same old ground over and over again, which is only really designed to make money for businesses, not provide some fresh artistic statement to audiences. I don't get why people are happy to let the works they love stagnate into franchises.

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Zigûr

I don't get why people are happy to let the works they love stagnate into franchises.

Especially when the original works in question are not only the product of a long-dead author, but also would as "new" sequels inevitably be Hollywood mass-produced clones of every other Next Big Thing in the theaters nowadays.

[Dark Lord]

Well, like stated above, I believe that Tolkien intended the saga to continue, even though he did cancel 'The New Shadow', I still believe he wanted it to continue on.

And correct me if I am wrong, I don't think Tolkien estate has the rights to the movies, there fore unable to do anything. Who ever has the rights to the movies can make another LOTR movie if they choose to do so. Please correct me if I am wrong.

[Herald_of_Mandos]

Originally Posted by Dark Lord

Well, like stated above, I believe that Tolkien intended the saga to continue, even though he did cancel 'The New Shadow', I still believe he wanted it to continue on.

And correct me if I am wrong, I don't think Tolkien estate has the rights to the movies, there fore unable to do anything. Who ever has the rights to the movies can make another LOTR movie if they choose to do so. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Exactly! Just like the article says, it's all in the Appendices somewhere! If it's not in yours, well you must have the wrong edition...

[Zigûr]

Originally Posted by Dark Lord

Well, like stated above, I believe that Tolkien intended the saga to continue, even though he did cancel 'The New Shadow', I still believe he wanted it to continue on.

I would dispute this. I don't think Tolkien ever considered or wanted the history of Arda to continue beyond the Fall of Sauron - that's exactly why he stopped writing "The New Shadow". Without 'incarnate evil' there was nothing left to write about. Fictional history became real history.
I think that "other minds and hands, wielding paint and music and drama" quote is regularly taken out of context, incidentally. See, for instance, Letter 292 for an instance of Professor Tolkien's opinion of sequels not penned by his own hand.

Originally Posted by Dark Lord

And correct me if I am wrong, I don't think Tolkien estate has the rights to the movies, there fore unable to do anything. Who ever has the rights to the movies can make another LOTR movie if they choose to do so. Please correct me if I am wrong.

I don't think anyone said anything about the Estate. It's not that the movies couldn't be made; I was suggesting that they shouldn't be made. What would they base them on anyway? They only have the rights to adapt The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The rights to "The New Shadow", by the way, are very definitely in the hands of the Estate, just like The Silmarillion and everything else.
Even if they did just make one up (which I imagine could put them in a dubious legal position), why would anyone want it if it wasn't based on Professor Tolkien's own work? What would be the point?

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Originally Posted by Dark Lord

And correct me if I am wrong, I don't think Tolkien estate has the rights to the movies, there fore unable to do anything. Who ever has the rights to the movies can make another LOTR movie if they choose to do so. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Quite correct. Saul Zaentz and whomever he chooses to license those rights to, such as Peter Jackson, could legally drop trou, take a gigantic dump on a pile of film stock, and call it "Tolkien." Oh, wait, PJ already did that.....