Tolkien film/streaming/gaming adaptations

[Char-Vell]

This could all be solved by resurrecting Rankin-Bass and having them animate the new series.

[johnnypt]

Feb 22, 2022 13:31:06 GMT -5 Char-Vell said:

This could all be solved by resurrecting Rankin-Bass and having them animate the new series.

They still need to go back and fill in that missing piece between the Bakshi film and Return of the King 

[kemp]

Feb 22, 2022 6:09:12 GMT -5 robp said:

Feb 20, 2022 6:23:11 GMT -5 kemp said:

When I was a kid I watched the Japanese tv series 'Monkey', everyone was east Asian in appearance, demons, heroes, everyone, but that was never an issue for me, never thought that it should have been more diverse and have more white and black people playing this or that, never thought about race quotas back than.

That was Japanese people cast as Chinese and Indian people. Guess as long as they are "Asian" that isn't an issue

Japan is as east Asian as it gets, and yes, it wasn't an issue for me that Japanese actors were cast as Chinese and Indian people, not to mention the various demons and other protagists in the series. There is too much of 'race preoccupation' in todays west these days.

[kemp]

Tolkien in his Appendix section always seemed to be more concerned with the languages of  Elves, Men, Dwarves, Hobbits, Ents, Orcs and Trolls as opposed to anything else, linguist diferences so to speak. When it came to physical description what stood out for me were descriptions like the hairy feet on Hobbits. 

I suppose if they want to include black elves in a new series that's fine. black elves figure in some Norse mythology, and of course you get black elves in the Forgotten Realms series of books, Drizzt Do'Urden.

I think the biggest concern is a kind of forced diversity for the sake of 'including everyone'. For me, given what has been happening in the real world it's all just BS hypocrisy anyway.  

[kemp]

.....but who needs the real world when you have the new revised 'representative, inclusive and diverse' world of The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power.

[johnnypt]

That is a great point about not having the rights to the correct material. I actually just reread the Appendices tonight, there’s material in there but not enough for five seasons. You need to have access to the Silmarillion at the very least for Akallabeth, the most descriptive version of the drowning of Numenor. If they concentrate on the story, it can work. Concentrate on making sure you have a representative cast, whatever that means, you’ll probably lose yourself in a matter of episodes. You can do both, but you have to do the former way more than the latter.

[Deleted]

Love the concept art for the 'The War of the Rohirrim’ animated movie:



‘Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim’ Anime Feature Set for April 2024 Release by Warner Bros. (EXCLUSIVE)

By Adam B. Vary

“The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” — the original anime feature from New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Animation — is set for release on April 12, 2024 from Warner Bros. Pictures, Variety can report exclusively.

Set roughly two centuries before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings,” “The War of the Rohirrim” will explore the exploits of Helm Hammerhand, the King of Rohan, and the creation of Helm’s Deep, the stronghold featured in Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.”

Kenji Kamiyama (the TV series “Blade Runner: Black Lotus” and “Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex”) is directing with “Blade Runner: Black Lotus” producer Joseph Chou through his anime studio Sola Entertainment, which has been working on the film since it was announced in June 2021.

As can be seen in this exclusive first look at conceptual art from the film, “The War of the Rohirrim” is also drawing much of its creative DNA from Jackson’s six features set in Middle-earth. Philippa Boyens, who was part of the Oscar-winning screenwriting team for “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” trilogies, is executive producing the film. Phoebe Gittins, Boyens’ daughter, and writing partner Arty Papageorgiou are penning the screenplay based on a script from Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews. And the creative team includes Richard Taylor (who won Oscars for makeup and visual effects for “The Lord of the Rings”), Alan Lee (who won an Oscar for art direction for “LOTR”), and Tolkien illustrator John Howe.



Voice cast announcements are expected soon.

“I’m in awe of the creative talent who have come together to bring this epic, heart-pounding story to life, from the mastery of Kenji Kamiyama to a truly stellar cast,” Boyens says.

“The ‘Lord of the Rings’ films took Tolkien’s masterwork to new cinematic heights and inspired a generation,” said Warner Bros. Pictures Group chairman Toby Emmerich. “It’s a gift to be able to revisit Middle-earth with many of the same creative visionaries and the talented Kenji Kamiyama at the helm. This will be an epic portrayal unlike anything audiences have ever seen.”

Warner Bros.’ movement on the anime “Lord of the Rings” film comes at a time when the studio is in a dispute with the Saul Zaentz Co., the longtime owner of “LOTR” film and TV rights, over whether Warner Bros. has done enough development on the franchise to maintain its hold on live-action and animated film rights. Variety reported last week that Zaentz Co. is putting its Tolkien holdings on the block, which spurred questions about “LOTR” activity within Warner Bros.

The last live-action Tolkien film, 2014’s “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies,” grossed $940 million worldwide; all six films have earned over $5.8 billion. “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” won 11 Oscars, including best picture, tying the record for a single movie.

“The War of the Rohirrim” is also totally separate from Amazon Prime Video’s Middle-earth series “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” which is set millennia before the events of Jackson’s movies.

Cynthia Littleton contributed to this story.

Source:
variety.com/2022/film/news/lord-of-the-rings-the-war-of-the-rohirrim-release-date-1235181646/

[hyrkanian]

Anime? Oh, no, faces will probably look like this:

[Deleted]

Feb 23, 2022 7:27:41 GMT -5 hyrkanian said:

Anime? Oh, no, faces will probably look like this:

I dunno what it will eventually look like, but having Tolkien artists Alan Lee and John Howe involved sounds like a good start. 

Unlike the Amazon series they have a solid team of creators for this animated movie with experience and strong connections to the previous Jackson movies.
 
Only time will tell, I guess.

[johnnypt]

Lee and Howe being involved will at least give it a look consistent with known Tolkien images.

But hey, the TV show had a couple of guys vouched for by JJ Abrams

[bonesaw]

Annual reminder that the very first decision made by the director of the new Star Wars movies before production began was based on a political/racial agenda. And hey, wasn't the consensus among fans that collectively, those moves turned out to be a steamy pile? I don't know because I never watched them and never will, just like this LOTR dumpster fire.    

[johnnypt]

I enjoyed the sequel trilogy probably more than I should have, while recognizing the rehash elements of Force Awakens, the "let's forget everything!" aspect of Last Jedi and the "OMG! Fan service course correction!" feel of Rise of Skywalker. If you want a diverse cast...just do it. John Boyega was probably the best choice for that character as it was and the girls (Rey and Jen Erso) were able to carry their films along thanks to the actresses' performances.

I've said (maybe even in this thread) that on paper Tauriel in the Hobbit films shouldn't work, but she does thanks to what Evangeline Lilly brought to the character. That should be the driving factor, it's what makes the Marvel movies work when they're at their best: the actors (up and down the line from Downey, Hemsworth, Johanssen, etc. now onto Olsen, Stansfield and Holland) have the talent to inhabit the characters and bring them to life while adding depth to all of them. That should be the key focus of the people working on the films and shows. When you start from somewhere else, sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. I'm sure the makers of And Just Like That didn't intend to have Harry and Steve be the most sympathetic characters, but that's what Evan and David brought to the roles to lift them above the scripts.

I'm still on the positive side of this until we see a whole episode. But that "fan" video was embarrassing.

[Char-Vell]

The first two "sequel trilogy" movies were ok. Rise of Skywalker was a hot mess precisely because of all the course correcting garbage. it might have turned out better if they just owned Last Jedi and moved on with salvageable parts. like more Benecio Del Toros character.

The Hobbit films sucked because they padded the story out with nonsense like hot Elf on Dwarf action and left out cool things that were actually in the book like the full Beorn story. they also fucked up Beorn's characterization.

and Bard using a makeshift arbalest and a giant steel dart instead of a bow pissed me off. I don't recall him making the Black Arrow speech either.

[johnnypt]

Feb 24, 2022 8:44:37 GMT -5 Char-Vell said:

The Hobbit films sucked because they padded the story out with nonsense like hot Elf on Dwarf action and left out cool things that were actually in the book like the full Beorn story. they also fucked up Beorn's characterization.

and Bard using a makeshift arbalest and a giant steel dart instead of a bow pissed me off. I don't recall him making the Black Arrow speech either.

I think there was more Beorn in the Extended Edition, have to watch it again.  I think practically in every case (the exception possibly being Return of the King, I'd have trimmed 10-12 minutes from that EE), the Extended Editions were by far the better versions of the films since we were able to get more of the story (sorry, Christopher Nolan).

I think the whole Bard sequence is a fallout of the extending of the story for so long, but also logistically in how they chose to portray Smaug (a little arrow's gonna hurt him?).  The appendicies on the Hobbit are even more interesting than the LotR ones since this was a film that was a struggle to get made every step of the way.  The reason we got a third film is because they weren't done with the second!  They were re-editing the second film up until a few minutes until the film had to be shipped to the studio (they had even had their "final" viewing when they noticed a sound error that had to be fixed, hence the final editing up until the end).  The fact they came out anywhere near a coherent viewing experience is astonishing.  Whether the viewer enjoyed it or not is another story. 

[Deleted]

Amazon completes $8.5 billion purchase of MGM (and gains Hobbit distribution rights)
by Demosthenes

According to Variety, Amazon has finally completed its $8.5 billion acquisition of MGM.
It was MGM’s precarious financial situation in the mid-2000s that delayed The Hobbit film series and contributed to the departure of Guillermo Del Toro from the production. Peter Jackson subsequently assumed the directorial role.
Amazon says it’s acquisition of “the storied, nearly century-old studio … will complement Prime Video and Amazon Studios’ work in delivering a diverse offering of entertainment choices to customers.”
Variety reports that the buy followed merger approval by the European antitrust regulator. That body’s review decided that overlaps between Amazon and MGM were “limited”.
Readers may recall that the Saul Zaentz Co. also recently announced the sale of its entire holding of Middle-earth IP, and that there is an ongoing legal stoush over whether Warner Bros./New Line Cinema still retains its LOTR/Hobbit film adaptations license. Given the above, it’s not impossible (though the chance is, perhaps, remote) that Amazon could eventually unite all the currently available Middle-earth film and television IP under its own banner.

Links:
www.theonering.net/torwp/2022/03/18/112480-amazon-completes-8-5-billion-purchase-of-mgm-and-gains-hobbit-distribution-rights/
variety.com/2022/tv/news/amazon-mgm-merger-close-1235207852/