Owen K.C. Stephens

Top Ten LotR Movie Ideas Better Than "The Hunt For Gollum" (Patreon)

Published:

2024-05-09 21:28:05

Edited:

2024-05-09 21:29:47

Imported:

2026-10

Tags:

Blog Editorial LotR Movies Silliness Top Ten

Content

So, it looks like Warner Bros is going to release a new LotR film in 2026 titled The Hunt for Golem, with Andy Serkis as Gollum and made by Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens.

I will watch it.

But I think it's a terrible idea.

(At least it's not going to be "The Second Ring: The Quickening")

Now, look. Of COURSE Warner wants to make more LotR movies. Even the lowest-grossing Hobbit movie (Desolation of Smaug) made $959 million on a $250 mil budget, and that ignores merchandizing and licensing. So, more movies are inevitable.

And, I know Warner is limited to what is in the Hobbit and LotR books (and appendices) themselves. Their rights do not include the Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, Fall of Gondolin, or anything else beyond The Hobbit and LotR books. So, they are restricted to building off what's in those 4 books and their appendices.

And Hunt for Gollum is still a terrible idea.

It's a prequel that going to focus on characters we know the fate of. It occurs in locations we have seen, at least briefly. It lacks the thrill of new fantasy lands or hold-your-breath unknown endings. Sure, some of that can be shoe-horned in, and sometimes horrible ideas develop into awesome movies... but that's not the way to bet.

While any more LotR movies are gamble, I feel Hunt for Gollum is beginning with some major disadvantages other concepts could avoid. In fact, I'm so confident of this, that today I am presenting:

The Top Ten LotR Movie Ideas Better Than "The Hunt For Gollum"

10. Tom Bombadil-O! I mean, he's a major, unexplained, mystic character in the books, and the movies dodged him entirely I think a lot of people believe they skipped him for good reason, but there has to be a movie worth of ideas here, right?

...

Right?

9. LotR: Into the Undying Lands. The tale of how Gimli gained both permission and a willingness to leave Middle Earth and sail with Legolas into the west. Upside, it's canon and we've never seen it in a movie. Downside, the only things we know are that it happened, and beyond that the appendices say "More cannot be said of this matter," so purists will go nuts if you make up dramatic stuff to make an interesting movie out of it while saying more on that matter.

But I think the Lotr movies pretty much lost the purists already, at this point.

8. LotR: Ready for Battle. The tale of Hildifon Took, Bilbo's uncle, who went off on an adventure (either inspired by or with Gandalf), and never returned. Upsides, we have no ideas what adventure, and the character and his having adventures are canon. Downsides, its a prequel, and there are no hints about what the adventure was and movie makers would surely force weird connections in to stuff people will recognize. It's a major crapshoot, but at least it can be new.

7. LotR: Scouring of the Shire. It's a whole section in the LotR books, it's canon, and it shows hobbits kicking ass. Downsides, it's anticlimactic and uses characters the movies killed off in different ways. But if you want a canon LotR story no one has made a movie of, that has at least some important stakes, this is better than hunting Gollum.

6. LotR: The Battle of Greenfields. It's a prequel, but it's about Bandobras "the Bullroarer" Took preventing a goblin invasion of the Shire. Having a brave militant hobbit would be a change of pace, and it's clearly appendix-canon. Otoh... we all know the Shire survives. You might be able to make the battle above saving some smaller villages, and note that if they fell, "The Shire would ne next!."

5. LotR: The Dwarf-Orc War. We don't know much more than when this war n the Misty mountains happened, but it sure sounds cool!

4. LotR: The White Tree. Based on the following line from the appendices about the time after the fall of Sauron -- "For though Sauron had passed, the hatreds and evils that he bred had not died, and the King of the West had many enemies to subdue before the White Tree could grow in peace." So, this would be the movie of what evil had to be put down before the White Tree would "grow in peace." The stakes are smaller, but if you literally have the White Tree mystically tell you when the remaining great evil has been put don, you can get some fun stuff out of it.

I mean, you could combine this with my Mountain of Shadow idea. In fact, maybe you should and turn these two ideas into their own post-LotR triology. You just have to stay away from ideas from The New Shadow, the LotR sequel idea Tolkien began and discarded (which Warner doesn't have rights for).

3. LotR: Battle of Fornost. This is the final battle that destroyed Angmar, under the command of the Witch King (one of the Ring Wraiths, the "No Man" guy). It's noteworthy because hobbits claim they sent a unit of archers to fight in it. It's canon, but prequel material, so the stakes are iffy (we know the Witch King flees and survives), but ots of secondary characters and goals can be set up to have stakes with unknown outcomes. Plus, hobbit archers!

2. LotR: Mountain of Shadow. Eldarion, son of Arwen and Aragorn and after his father King of Gondor, must find and slay Shelob, who eventually recovers from the wound Sam delivered during the War of the Ring. Upsides - Whole new story! Room for more legacy/offspring characters. Can go new palces! Downsides - Whole new story! There's a real "Game of Thrones Season 8" risk here, but if good writers are brought on and given time, this could be awesome. But Eldarion and Shelob are mention in the books Warner has access to, and I think they could get away with this rights-wise

1. LotR: The Battle of Dale. Covered in the appendix The Great Years, this is the story of what is going on in Dale and the Lonely Mountain during the Lord of the Rings movies. It has Sauron's forces, Easterling, Bardings (the people of Dale), and Dwarves, as Sauron tries to overrun the area and send more troops towards Dol Doldur and the Mirkwood. This is perfect, because even though we know Sauron loses, movie-only fans have no idea what happens here and it can be set up with "Even if Sauron falls, the Eastrlings could hold Erebor if they take it, and cause mischief for generations." So there are real stakes here, and the good guys don't win all the battles.

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