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.

[LordPhillock]

speaking of which, me and my brother had an amazing idea for Lord of the Rings film sequels a couple of months ago. I laughed so hard I was out of breath. It's clearly almost the same thing, just way more epic and would sell way more video games.

The New Hobbit Trilogy: Shadow of Sauron (remember, "Hobbit" is a much more awesome franchise. Lord of the Rings is a thing of the past.)

Frodo™ returns with Gandalf™ (The Grey again, because "The Hobbit" is just so epic) from the Undying Lands to aid Aragorn™, the new King. The Valar™ are afraid of a new evil, as Sauron™ has re-resurrected and leads a force of orcs riding fell beasts, as Eomer™ has succesfully trained his Rohirrim™ to ditch horses and individually ride thousands of Mumakil; New Rohan, home of the Olyphant Lords. Rohan™ and Gondor™ united to create the "World of Men", as one super country of epic heroes. Bilbo™ also returns (now played by Martin Freeman) in a surprise attack against the new powers of evil - Bilbo of course has been given youth again thanks to Gandalf's Maiar Magic™. He and Frodo exchange witty banter and use Eagles to fly with Gandalf (the Grey) and fight the hordes of Fell Beasts. Pippin and Merry lead a legion of Hobbit armies to help. But just then, Sauron's new forces are joined with a new army, thanks to his Necromancer powers...

Eomer takes the news to King Aragorn:

"The Nine Nazgul? No. Now they are the Nine-Thousand"

And an army of Nazgul wearing super-awesome morgul armor arrive riding balrogs as Peter Jackson directs his greatest epic trilogy ever epiced out of anyone's epic bowels! not to mention, Sauron has an upgrade with his battle-armor and wields dual-bladed katana axes with spikes! This happened in the appendices somewhere so it's canon. Return to Middle-Earth Once More.

Yes, my eyes kind of bled after writing that. I'm realllly late for April Fool's.

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Originally Posted by LordPhillock

speaking of which, me and my brother had an amazing idea for Lord of the Rings film sequels. I laughed so hard I was out of breath. Imagine, just imagine this beautiful example:

The New Hobbit Trilogy: Lord of Sauron

Frodo™ returns with Gandalf™ (The Grey again, because "The Hobbit" is just so epic) from the Undying Lands to aid Aragorn™, the new King. The Valar™ are afraid of a new evil, as Sauron™ has re-resurrected and leads a force of orcs riding fell beasts, as Eomer™ has succesfully trained his Rohirrim™ to ride mumakil and Rohan™ and Gondor™ united to create the "World of Men", as one super country of epic heroes. Bilbo™ also returns (now played by Martin Freeman) in a surprise attack against the new powers of evil - Bilbo of course has been given youth again thanks to Gandalf's Maiar Magic™. He and Frodo exchange witty banter and use Eagles to fly with Gandalf (the Grey) and fight the hordes of Fell Beasts. Pippin and Merry lead a legion of Hobbit armies to help. But just then, Sauron's new forces are joined with a new army, thanks to his Necromancer powers...

Eomer takes the news to King Aragorn:

"The Nine Nazgul? No. Now they are the Nine-Thousand"

And an army of Nazgul wearing super-awesome morgul armor arrive riding balrogs as Peter Jackson directs his greatest epic trilogy ever epiced out of anyone's epic bowels! not to mention, Sauron has an upgrade with his battle-armor and wields dual-bladed katana axes with spikes! This happened in the appendices somewhere so it's canon. Return to Middle-Earth Once More.

[Morsul the Dark]

Originally Posted by LordPhillock

speaking of which, me and my brother had an amazing idea for Lord of the Rings film sequels a couple of months ago. I laughed so hard I was out of breath. It's clearly almost the same thing, just way more epic and would sell way more video games.

The New Hobbit Trilogy: Shadow of Sauron (remember, "Hobbit" is a much more awesome franchise. Lord of the Rings is a thing of the past.)

Frodo™ returns with Gandalf™ (The Grey again, because "The Hobbit" is just so epic) from the Undying Lands to aid Aragorn™, the new King. The Valar™ are afraid of a new evil, as Sauron™ has re-resurrected and leads a force of orcs riding fell beasts, as Eomer™ has succesfully trained his Rohirrim™ to ditch horses and individually ride thousands of Mumakil; New Rohan, home of the Olyphant Lords. Rohan™ and Gondor™ united to create the "World of Men", as one super country of epic heroes. Bilbo™ also returns (now played by Martin Freeman) in a surprise attack against the new powers of evil - Bilbo of course has been given youth again thanks to Gandalf's Maiar Magic™. He and Frodo exchange witty banter and use Eagles to fly with Gandalf (the Grey) and fight the hordes of Fell Beasts. Pippin and Merry lead a legion of Hobbit armies to help. But just then, Sauron's new forces are joined with a new army, thanks to his Necromancer powers...

Eomer takes the news to King Aragorn:

"The Nine Nazgul? No. Now they are the Nine-Thousand"

And an army of Nazgul wearing super-awesome morgul armor arrive riding balrogs as Peter Jackson directs his greatest epic trilogy ever epiced out of anyone's epic bowels! not to mention, Sauron has an upgrade with his battle-armor and wields dual-bladed katana axes with spikes! This happened in the appendices somewhere so it's canon. Return to Middle-Earth Once More.

Yes, my eyes kind of bled after writing that. I'm realllly late for April Fool's.

I take two things from this:

1. Mumakil isn't trademarked so it's mine now.

2. I'f freak if someone came at me with a kitanna axe with spikes.

[Dark Lord]

So, this is some kind of sick joke that made me pee with excitement?

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Pssst, Dark Lord, check out the date of the original post...

[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?

[Dark Lord]

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.

Dagor Dagorath? That is a prophecy, even though it may not be clear, but it still was written.

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?

Simple. Money hungry companies don't really care if it was written by a the best author and if they destroy it's lore.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by Dark Lord

Dagor Dagorath? That is a prophecy, even though it may not be clear, but it still was written.

But what would it be? Two (or in case PJ was the director, four) hour long movie which is about the battle between Ancalagon and Eärendil and Túrin and Morgoth and who knows what? There is not much space for any story development, really. It will be just one big battle on screen.

[Zigûr]

Originally Posted by Dark Lord

Simple. Money hungry companies don't really care if it was written by a the best author and if they destroy it's lore.

But I already mentioned that the profit motive is why companies would want to do it. My question was why fans would want it. You yourself said you hope they make sequels. Would you really want that even though there are no events following The Lord of the Rings left to adapt without enormous amounts of pure invention?

I actually once read a fan-made supplement for Games Workshop's The Lord of the Rings tabletop game which took the "Blue Wizards turned evil" concept to embellish Aragorn's conflicts with the Easterlings in the Fourth Age - probably the most sensible sequel idea I've ever read, but then again fan fiction doesn't interest me (as I recently told someone who claimed that as a Tolkien afficionado I must have read some unlicensed Russian publication that characterised the villains as misunderstood or some such thing).

[Inziladun]

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.

Tolkien abandoned The New Shadow because, in his own words, it would have been a "thriller", and thus "not worth doing". Shame Peter Jackson couldn't have such wisdom.

Originally Posted by Dark Lord

Simple. Money hungry companies don't really care if it was written by a the best author and if they destroy it's lore.

Which is why they ought to let Tolkien be. His work has been commercialized too much as it is.

[Nerwen]

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.

Originally Posted by Dark Lord

Dagor Dagorath? That is a prophecy, even though it may not be clear, but it still was written.

Mmmn. Seems to be a bit of a confusion of ideas here, Dark Lord. Yes, in-story "the saga continues"– in the sense that events of some kind are presumably going to go on happening in Middle-earth– but this is true of any book whatsoever unless it finishes with all the characters dying and the world ending. And yes, Tolkien does mention, or speculate on, some of this "future history" in various places. Okay. That in no way implies that he intended "the saga to continue" in the real world in the form of sequels (particularly not ones made up out of thin air by other people). I'm really not sure how you're arriving at that.

[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.....

[Mithalwen]

Is there any evidence Dark Lord, beyond your wishful thinking? Personally if an author chooses not to continue a sequel and dismisses the concept in no uncertain terms then I take it as rather overwhelming evidence that he had drawn a line. He wasn't keen on the idea of films being made of his published work so I can't see he would have been chuffed about concotions. Only movie rights to LOTR and the Hobbit were sold they haven't carte blanche over the whole corpus.

Some literary estates do authorise sequels and no doubt they could have made megabucks if Tolkien's estate had gone likewise. Whatever people think of Christopher Tolkien (and I know I am much more of a fan than some) the fact is that he was JRRT's choice as literary executor. If he trusted his son as to the exploitation of his works I don't see why anyone else thinks they are better judge of his wishes. We are free to create our own fan works but bottom line we are playing in someone else's sandpit...

[Dark Lord]

Fans would most likely watch a movie anything to do with Middle - Earth regardless if it was written by J.R.R or not. Curiosity. Even if people didnt like it, and they watched it at the cinemas, too bad, the money is already coming in for them even if you passionately hated it.

I am not sure where I am going with this, but I have read quite a lot of articles and in most it says...

While evil would continue to exist, Sauron could never emerge as a Dark Lord again and never would have the power to create an army or draw evil creatures to his rule as he once did

To me, this implies there is an ultimately high chance of 'new evil' coming forth. Most of you would watch it, regardless if it was J.R.R Tolkiens work or not as stated before.

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Dark Lord

Fans would most likely watch a movie anything to do with Middle - Earth regardless if it was written by J.R.R or not. Curiosity. Even if people didnt like it, and they watched it at the cinemas, too bad, the money is already coming in for them even if you passionately hated it.

I think you might be mistaken on that score. I, for one will not mindlessly devour junk-food Tolkien, no matter how appetizing it might look. Quality mind-nutrition came from the Professor, and I'm perfectly content to stick with things he himself or his authorized Executor have and will produce.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by Dark Lord

Fans would most likely watch a movie anything to do with Middle - Earth regardless if it was written by J.R.R or not. Curiosity. Even if people didnt like it, and they watched it at the cinemas, too bad, the money is already coming in for them even if you passionately hated it.

I know people who would go and see it out of curiosity, but they are the kind of people who go to see fantasy movies only because it is fantasy, so it does not really count. I think most of Tolkien fans who are interested in Tolkien won't go to see, say, Peter Jackson's new invention-addittion to the franchise. I would not, for example. Basically what Zigûr had said about "because I am a fan, doesn't mean I have to read every fanfic". That applies also to movies.

To me, this implies there is an ultimately high chance of 'new evil' coming forth.

Really? All I see there is exactly the opposite: "the evil from Sauron is never coming back". And since most of the evil in Middle-Earth came from Sauron (after Morgoth's defeat), the only evil can probably come from some "normal" things: evil men, bandits and such. Sort of what was said above. No "supernatural" evil has any more chance anymore (and after all, this is the age of Men. Elves are leaving, all the "faery powers", good or evil, are leaving). The Blue Wizards turned evil is probably the best possible way, but canonically, that is doubtful.

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Dark Lord

Fans would most likely watch a movie anything to do with Middle - Earth regardless if it was written by J.R.R or not. Curiosity.

Well, no. Not the fans that actually know something about the creation of LOTR and realise that all that is fanfiction. Some might come because they are movie fans and don't realize/care that that's not book material at all anymore. Others might come, as you said, out of curiosity. But a significant number won't bother with it. There are some wise people among our number who didn't waste money on TH movies, and I'm positive that this number will increase if the next big "LOTR" film will be a fanfic. Personally, while I probably will watch the rest of TH with the family, I would not even consider going to a fanfic film, especially if it's made in the style of LOTR and TH.

Originally Posted by Dark Lord

To me, this implies there is an ultimately high chance of 'new evil' coming forth. Most of you would watch it, regardless if it was J.R.R Tolkiens work or not as stated before.

I would echo Legate here. While it's true that there is still evil (and evil is still evil, no matter who does it or why he does it or how it ends, and Mandos would say), there is no centre for it. No real source. Imagine that you used to have a huge tree. Then you chopped the tree down and planted grass over the spot. Sure, there's lots of grass growing there now, and grass is plants just the same as trees, but it's petty in comparisson. It's only strength is in the number of grass plants (compared to one tree). Morgoth, and later Sauron, were like the trees in that sense. After they were thrown into the Void, there's no doubt that evil continued to exist - but in the form of grass. Never something centered, never something as powerful. Many, but little and petty evil deeds.

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Dark Lord

Fans would most likely watch a movie anything to do with Middle - Earth regardless if it was written by J.R.R or not. Curiosity. Even if people didnt like it, and they watched it at the cinemas, too bad, the money is already coming in for them even if you passionately hated it.

Are you speaking of the more superficial faction of fans of Jackson's movies? If so, you are probably right. Jackson could stamp "Lord of the Rings" on a pig sty gate and a certain percentage of the population would come to wallow.

But it doesn't mean the rest of us will muck through it. Even with waders.

Originally Posted by Dark Lord

To me, this implies there is an ultimately high chance of 'new evil' coming forth. Most of you would watch it, regardless if it was J.R.R Tolkiens work or not as stated before.

No, evil has made its final descent from malevolent deities and is no longer demonic in nature. The 4th Age begins the Age of Man, and Mankind is evil enough without some supernatural instigator prodding us along.

[Nerwen]

Dark Lord– as I said before, the trouble is, you're arguing on multiple grounds without separating the arguments at all.

Let me try–
Argument 1. Hollywood would churn out LotR sequels (or maybe that should be "sequels")if it looked like there was enough money in it. –Sure, no-one's disputing that. By the same token, though, they wouldn't if it didn't. Which brings us to–
1.a.) And such sequels would in fact be highly profitable. –Hard to say. Yes, there are people who will go to see *anything* with a certain "brand" on it, and often do their best to convince themselves they loved it regardless... but this group gets smaller and smaller as a franchise outwears its welcome.

This is completely different from

Argument 2.) And Tolkien himself would have approved of all this. –A flat "no". You are basing this on statements taken completely out of context, such as the following:

Originally Posted by Dark Lord

To me, this implies there is an ultimately high chance of 'new evil' coming forth. Most of you would watch it, regardless if it was J.R.R Tolkiens work or not as stated before.

"New evil" being LotR sequels, then?

Seriously, aren't you just pulling all this from the original April Fool's Day post, anyway?

[Dark Lord]

Seriously, aren't you just pulling all this from the original April Fool's Day post, anyway?

Just a little extraction.

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Dark Lord

Just a little extraction.

"Just a little extraction" from a load of April Fools foolishness? And if the extraction said "the Shire is covered in purple grass", would you also argue that? I must admit that I do not understand your logic here. Taking only a small part of fabricated information doesn't make it less fabricated.