I wish it need not have happened in my time.

The PJ trilogy still holds up today.

That's a pretty high bar

100

Lightning in a bottle, very unlikely to happen a second time. They tried a few times and failed miserably. But you never know.

63
- Exactly, just look at the horrible Hobbit moves. A breakthrough like LOTR takes an incredible effort, sacrifice, risk taking, and luck. We always look back at these big achievements and think they were inevitable, but that’s not true, it’s hard and rare.
  
  The only thing Warner will achieve is spending a lot of money for somethig that nobody will talk about in 2 years, while people will still rewatch LOTR in decades.
  
  24

Just don’t watch it.

You don’t have to watch every damn thing involving your fandom. It’s pure capitalistic greed at this point.

Let a franchise fucking die already.

Demand better movies and don’t engage with film as product. Find passionate storytellers and not greedy corporate executives looking to milk every last drop of nostalgia for profits.

82

I listened to a podcast (99 Percent Invisible I think) and it said a big reason why the 90s were so great for movies were the creation of cinaplexes, big movie theaters with tons of screens.

More screens meant that new or different ideas that wouldn't normally make it to the big screen (Forrest Gump, Fight Club, The Matrix etc) were given a chance, and found an audience.

Now everything is played safe. Hollywood doesn't want new franchises because they are deemed too risky, and the names we know and love are running out of ideas and passion and risk ruining the whole thing.

25
- Interesting perspective and makes me think that's why the 18+ screen mega theatre is dying today. Not enough of those kinds of films to keep that many screens going and draw people in.
  
  3
Exactly. Quit feeding them

8
Still haven't watched rings of power, probably not now that I cancelled Prime after the ad fiasco.

Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War were fun - but very non canon.

Anyone who bought Gollum at all should take what you're saying to heart. Zero true fans of the Middle Earth world would put any money down for that game. If anyone bought it because they were a fan they deserved to lose their money, zero of the marketing material looked like it was going to be a quality product or decent addition to the story.

3
- Rings of Power was enjoyable to watch, I treated it as billion-dollar fanfic and didn't worry that everything was out of place
  
  4
And if you watched it and don't like it, don't spend all your time shitting on the people that did

1

New “Lord of the Rings” movies scheduled to be cancelled after completion by David Zazlav for a tax break

58

I desperately hope so. The amount of effort that went into the current movies cannot be matched by anybody in Hollywood except maybe Christopher Nolan.

10
- Or you know... Peter Jackson again.
  
  7
- I know I wouldn't like his attempt at that in its entirety, if it happens, but yes.
  
  4
Would give multiple stars to this comment if I could.

3

Is it just me, or had anyone else lost all hope for good Lotr shows after Rings of Power? I saw lots of potential squandered by poor writing, and I fear more Lotr content is just going to be more content, not good stories.

53

Christopher Tolkien was blocking a lot of things. Even the Jackson films sneaked by and wouldn't have been made of he could have stopped it.

He's dead now, and the new heirs to the rights like money. They also have about 20 years before the copyright expires. Which isn't that long; that's about as much time between now and the Jackson films. To keep ahead of the clock, they're greenlighting a lot of garbage and risk running their franchise into the ground.

26
Yep. Money grab.

15
It didn’t affect me as all, as I didn’t watch it.

With the infinite amount of excellent content available online, there is no point on wasting your time and attention or mediocrity. It was obvious from the news before launch that it will suck, so I waited, and the reviews confirmed it, so I didn’t bother.

15
- It wasn't obvious it would be bad before release, much of the compliants I saw were mostly unfair criticism made in bad-faith.
  
  It wasn't exactly bad, it just wasn't good like it could have been.
  
  8
I lost all hope when they greenlit the license to be used for....Golum.

9
- Nasty capitalistses...
  
  7

So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us

50

And since this is on Lemmy... the answer is pirate it when it comes out then bitch about how bad it is. Then turn it into Linux memes and communism.

8

So I tried to find more info on it and it seems like they are not remaking the trilogy. Multiple movies set in various time periods before the Hobbit and LotR are currently written. That's not really great but it is way better than a remake IMHO.

34

At least they are smart enough not to try to remake a near perfect trilogy. If they try enough options with giving different directors freedom, they can hit gold with one - same way Disney did with Andor or Rogue One, even if most other new SW content sucks.

5

The copyright expires in 2044. The Perter Jackson series came out 2001-2003. From a studio point it is approaching the now or never time. They need to make one within the next few years to be able to make a 3rd one just before the end of copyright. From a studio buisness perspective this makes sense and is kind of a no-brainer.

33

This shit needs to stop. Same with Marvel, Star Trek, Star Wars…. All of this shit needs to stop.

28

The new Trek series have been, with one exception, great. Oh, do you mean the fuck terrible movies? Yeah.

4
- what? Have you seen other versions of discovery or picard than I did? only current good StartTrek show is the Orwell...
  
  0
- I mean ALL of it. Those franchises need to die.
  
  -12
Don't worry, neighbor. Humanity's about done here and allll that shit will stop.

4
As a Star Wars fan I say this shit has gotten so egregious that for most intents and purposes it has already stopped.

2
- Ever since the extended universe was declared non-canon, Star Wars died for me.
  
  1
Eh, somewhat disagree. I think some series have big potentials for spinoffs or side stories. The Disney Star Wars movies were terrible, agreed, but some of the shows are fantastic.

Marvel (and DC for that matter) is finicky. Comic books are, by their nature, extremely continuous, so there will always be more content to adapt. Whether or not it's good or worth adapting is dependent on both the comic series and the producers' capabilities, but that's another issue.

I mean, I'll give an example. The Last Airbender, fantastic show. It could have ended there and we'd all be satisfied. But The Legend of Korra, while not as great as TLA, was still (imo) very good. But the Last Airbender movie? Yeah, we all know it sucked hard.

I wouldn't say writers should never ever look to make spinoffs or side stories to existing content, but obviously it should be good, and it's demonstrably possible. Star Wars gave us The Clone Wars, Breaking Bad gave us Better Call Saul, and I mean on a somewhat relevant note, LotR gave us Shadow of Mordor, which I really liked. New, original content [edit: as a sequel to already existing content] can be good... but obviously, not always.

1

Gondor has no remake. Gondor needs no remake.

24

Alas, it is not for Gondor to decide what the copyright holders do with them.

6

i love how nobody sees this as good news

24

takes one glance at Amazon

1

24

This is an article from February 2023 about War of the Rohirrim and similar projects, not a remake of the 2001 trilogy.

19

The thing is that, even if these new ones are the most awful media ever produced. It doesn't change anything about the old ones. They will still stay awesome. They don't depreciate just because other media exist. Or that would have already happened with the Rings of Power.

I just wish they put this time and effort into other franchises. I want more Discworld.

17

I want more Discworld

so do I, but also fear that executive meddling would butcher the originals beyond all recognition

1

If I was going to do more lotr content, I'd probably do something with the Eastern front of the war. What did the blue wizards get up to?

17

Likely rot in some pit

5

In a dream scenario where they can get the right people to do it, I would vastly prefer a TV series. Even with the extended editions, there's a ton of material in the books we didn't get to see. Things like the whole sequence with the elves early in the books being turned into "hey look there's some elves", no Tom Bombadil, the journey from Rivendel to Moria. And that's just the first book.

I think most would agree the world building is one of the best aspects of the books and there just isn't time for that in a feature film.

17

As some kind of "filler" in a TV series is actually the only way I can see the Tom Bombadil content working on the screen. It's just too specific to work in any other way IMO, even though I would like to see something. (Especially with Jack Black as Tom Bombadil, can you imagine him ring-a-ding dillowing xD)

18
- I had never actually fan casted anyone as Tom Bombadil, but now I will forever have Jack Black in my head.
  
  Although, knowing Hollywood, it'd be Chris Pratt.
  
  10
- Idk if you watched the last of us, but like that Bill episode, which is mostly disconnected from the greater narrative, didn't feel out of place in the series to me. That's what I'm getting at. I want to see all of it at a slower pace.
  
  4
- I don't think there is a version of our world where Tom Bombadil is done well onscreen. While Jack Black has the energy for him, I would see Jack Black and not Bombadil Hey-Dol-Merry-Dol-ing.
  
  4
- He would pronounce it "hrrrring-a-ding dillow."
  
  But then we'd have Kyle Gass as Goldberry.
  
  3
- It's one of the core parts. Makes sense PJ and most commenters agree in discarding it. One can say it's the closest we get in the book to characters talking to Middle-Earth itself. (Something no sane person would discard from Narnia books, for example.)
  
  1
Careful what you wish for. You'll get a "Tolkien Cinematic Universe" pile of algorithm driven ersatz 'content'.

4
- That doesn't happen in my made up scenario where the world is good lol
  
  7
- There's a difference, metaphorically, between the ballad and the accompanying ambient harp play, and in general background music.
  
  The former is inconvenient - like a book or a tale. It conveys a story, a position, a morale, which inevitably leads to conflict and conflict is bad for business. It also can't be generated from existing stories and positions to cover all audiences, they'll average to the same bland product. It can only be borne out of human instincts and experiences. Even totalitarian propaganda has historically used real feelings and experiences.
  
  While the latter can be generated and pipelined.
  
  So the modern "consumerist" recommendation for art is to never look at the root, never search for the ballad itself, only for tables and food and harps and ambient play and windows and stones and the weather. And even if you look at what's supposed to be the art at the root, it's assumed that the modern way is to only rationalize it, find technical, formal similarities and intersections with something else, like a style or a touch, but never allow it to bloom naturally. Getting at the essence of things is seen as impolite and asocial.
  
  (Reminds me of that quote about white color and wisdom.)
  
  It's literally soulless.
  
  1

Oh no

14

Hard no

12

I suppose it was only a matter of time. Please don't be total ass.

11

I remember reading that what we're seeing lately is a sort of mad dash to churn out as much media as they can before the IP becomes public domain.

11
When it happens, just pretend they're LOTR themed movies. Much easier to swallow.

7
- The movie is just people LARPing LOTR
  
  3
It's going to be. Don't have any hopes for it, just don't. In fact, I'd argue just don't see it unless we hear that it's phenomenal for some reason after it's been released.

3

and they are going to mess with perfection wtf.

8

It's going to suck ass.

Why can't these companies come up with anything new? Or at least something new that's good.

8

I think this is the answer why big movies suck and won't try anything new. Filmmaking has become outrageously expensive to make and market, and they have to return their money at the box office right now rather than a longer lifespan with video rental, so the companies cannot afford a flop and they stick to what's familiar.

https://youtu.be/OZ28knLt5Rs?si=Z6pUL2hN3l-d6ul1

10
- Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
  
  https://piped.video/OZ28knLt5Rs?si=Z6pUL2hN3l-d6ul1
  
  Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
  
  I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.
  
  1

I'm really hoping this is manufactured content here.

Edit: after google searching

7

1

Maybe they're gonna do the The Hobbit right this time?

Oh who am I kidding. It'll be the fanfic backstory of Tom Bombadil or something.

5

I remember a time when news like this would generate an incredible amount of hype instead of just speculation on how bad it's going to be, which is exactly where my thoughts first went also. Too much PTSD from the industry now for us to get excited about anything.

3

With a new, diverse cast from all ethnical backgrounds!

-6

Now featuring genuine dwarfs acting the dwarves.

And internet trolls for the trolls.

Orcas for the orcs?

And, to bring in the American audience, Mexicans as the "men of the south".

6
As opposed to an all white cast that definitely isn't more suspicious!

1