Yesterday, it was announced in a joint press statement by Warner Bros. Pictures and Embracer Group that they’ve reached a brand new deal for New Line Cinema to continue to make feature films based on the work on Professor J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings. Expanding the existing cinematic universe, although, the announcement failed to mention what exact source material they’ll be adapting or what those new movies will look like. This comes after the studio is about to release an animated film The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim on April 12, 2024 and last year Amazon released their first of five seasons of their Middle-Earth streaming series, Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power. So, there was plenty of Middle-Earth material being released beyond live-action feature films.
The previous six feature films (set during The Third Age) were directed, produced, and co-written by filmmaker Peter Jackson. Interestingly enough, on the heels of the announcement Deadline was able to get a direct quote from Jackson, where he said that the two companies have kept himself alongside his producing/writing partners Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens in the loop about the deal.
“Warner Brothers and Embracer have kept us in the loop every step of the way,” the Oscar-winning trio said. “We look forward to speaking with them further to hear their vision for the franchise moving forward.”
I can’t really imagine that Jackson has the stomach to direct any more Middle-Earth adventures after he was forced to helm The Hobbit trilogy after Guillermo del Toro exited over scheduling issues to focus on Pacific Rim. However, potentially producing or writing new live-action films might be appealing as it would bring more business to Wellington, New Zeeland’s Stone Street Studios and Weta Digital/Workshop.
There is plenty of source material to pull from if they attempt to craft movies around the legends/tidbits that Tolkien sprinkled throughout his books or the expanded material published by his son Christopher Tolkien after his death. Personally, I could see tackling The Dark Lord Morgoth and The First Age (teased in The Rings of Power) as very much worthwhile adapting into a third trilogy of films unless the studio wants to move forward beyond with The Fourth Age. There are also other unexplored portions of the Middle-Earth mythology we haven’t seen on the big-screen like the two Blue Wizards and territories of the Easterlings.
SOURCE: WARNER BROS. & DEADLINE
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