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OldestDaughter
Nargothrond
May 8, 5:34pm
Post #1 of 20
(68428 views)
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Release date for the Hunt for Gollum is Dec 17th 2027!
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https://variety.com/2025/film/news/lord-of-the-rings-the-hunt-for-gollum-release-date-december-2027-1236390820/
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DGHCaretaker
Nargothrond
May 8, 10:17pm
Post #2 of 20
(68413 views)
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Only Kathleen Kennedy and James Cameron have done a better job at announcing and delaying releases.
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Junesong
Nargothrond
May 9, 6:29pm
Post #5 of 20
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I think the best thing the LOTR brand could do right now is be new.
If we're going to continue to play in this world we should leave Jackson's films alone.
I don't even love Andy Serkis revisiting Gollum and I don't think there's a bigger Andy Serkis fan in the world than me.
Eventually (sooner than we think) (WAY sooner than most of us want) they will reboot the LOTR and give us another trilogy to love/complain about.
Give me something NEW.
"So which story do you prefer?"
"The one with the tiger. That's the better story."
"Thank you. And so it goes with God."
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DGHCaretaker
Nargothrond
May 9, 8:13pm
Post #7 of 20
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Rings of Power is new ;)
If that is a cautionary note about being careful what you wish for, point well made. If it is an endorsement, ugh.
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DGHCaretaker
Nargothrond
May 9, 8:26pm
Post #8 of 20
(67764 views)
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I maintain that Jackson's Lord of the Rings is as untouchable as 1939's Wizard of Oz, which has only been "retold" in things like "The Wiz" or a prequel like today's "Wicked." No attempt has been made to recast and remake the original movie or make something more literally faithful to the book. The movies are too iconic to made remade any time soon in geological timescales. I'd put more weight on iconic for Wizard of Oz, because it's a much easier production now than it was in the 30's. The scale of Lord of the Rings ads to its burden. Both would be too easy to screw up in today's awful trends of deconstruction, badly written adaptations, gender/race swapping, bad CGI. messaging, and ego projects.
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Silvered-glass
Nargothrond
May 9, 9:31pm
Post #9 of 20
(67687 views)
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Boyens told Empire magazine that “The Hunt for Gollum” is “quite an intense story” that “falls after the birthday party of Bilbo and before the Mines of Moria. It’s a specific chunk of incredible untold story, told through the perspective of this incredible creature.”
So the movie is going to be all about Gollum as the main character rather than as a plot device. The big problem I have with this is that Gollum just isn't sympathetic enough to carry an entire movie, and we all know he won't be redeemed in the end, which makes following his story feel pointless.
So it looks like the movie is going to be something along these lines:
- Gollum leaves his cave in the Misty Mountains
- Gollum gets accustomed to the world outside and does some hunting
- Gollum gets hunted by Aragorn
- Gollum gets caught by Aragorn and brought to the Elves
- Gollum gets interrogated
- Gollum as a prisoner in Mirkwood
- Gollum escapes from Mirkwood
- Gollum taken to Mordor
- Gollum interrogated in Mordor
- Gollum escapes (or so he thinks) from Mordor
- Gollum flatters Shelob and promises to bring her food
- Gollum reaches the Misty Mountains again
- Gollum enters into Moria
- Gollum spots the Fellowship
The end
Probably there will be some colorful Orc characters and Beornings and the like, and some gratuitous scenes of hobbits for brand identity, but the entire concept of the movie feels to me just so... off. I wonder if some high-ranking executive imagines that Gollum has the potential to be a popular mascot character similar to Sonic the Hedgehog.
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DGHCaretaker
Nargothrond
May 9, 11:02pm
Post #10 of 20
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So the movie is going to be all about Gollum as the main character rather than as a plot device.
This is a huge leap of assumptions. You would do well to search for prior discussion on this, of which there was plenty. Also, there needs to be some realistic understanding about production expense, schedule and that Serkis is directing.
What you wave away - plot device - is the more likely outcome. Gollum won't be entirely a MacGuffin, but will have less screen time than the other main characters despite being titular. It's right there in the title of the film - "The Hunt" and not "The Prey." That means we have maybe Aragorn, Gandalf or others leading the screen time, with Gollum on the move showing up as necessary. A lot of Gollum would get excessive on budget and CGI time, Serkis does not have the time as director to have the majority of screen time. Too little Gollum and the audience will be displeased, but getting a lot of screen time for other main cast from LOTR will thrill the audience. Too much Gollum and it's just Serkis doing his schtick, cheapening the character. Judicious use is the smart thing to do, and he is smart.
(This post was edited by DGHCaretaker on May 9, 11:03pm)
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cats16
Gondolin
May 9, 11:04pm
Post #11 of 20
(67571 views)
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Makes me think that the May-ish script delivery...
[In reply to]
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mentioned by Warner Bros. did occur in the last couple of weeks. But as always, the release date will really depend on what kind of movie this is!
Join us every weekend in the Hobbit movie forum for this week's CHOW (Chapter of the Week) discussion!
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DGHCaretaker
Nargothrond
May 9, 11:46pm
Post #12 of 20
(67526 views)
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I already had one Wizard of Oz reference today, and I just came up with another one:
If one says any movie entitled "The Hunt For Gollum" must have a lot of Gollum, how much screen time would you say The Wizard of Oz got in his titular movie?
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Silvered-glass
Nargothrond
May 10, 8:28am
Post #13 of 20
(66902 views)
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Movie from Gollum's Perspective
[In reply to]
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So the movie is going to be all about Gollum as the main character rather than as a plot device. This is a huge leap of assumptions. You would do well to search for prior discussion on this, of which there was plenty. Also, there needs to be some realistic understanding about production expense, schedule and that Serkis is directing. What you wave away - plot device - is the more likely outcome. Gollum won't be entirely a MacGuffin, but will have less screen time than the other main characters despite being titular. It's right there in the title of the film - "The Hunt" and not "The Prey." That means we have maybe Aragorn, Gandalf or others leading the screen time, with Gollum on the move showing up as necessary. A lot of Gollum would get excessive on budget and CGI time, Serkis does not have the time as director to have the majority of screen time. Too little Gollum and the audience will be displeased, but getting a lot of screen time for other main cast from LOTR will thrill the audience. Too much Gollum and it's just Serkis doing his schtick, cheapening the character. Judicious use is the smart thing to do, and he is smart.
I too thought the movie would do the smart thing and be a movie about other characters hunting Gollum, but it looks like that dream is over.
CGI characters are no longer on the cutting edge of technology and CGI routinely gets used very heavily these days, so I don't think all the required CGI would be a problem for a movie that was never going to be low-budget anyway.
Here is the most relevant part of the Boyens quote again:
incredible untold story, told through the perspective of this incredible creature
If the story is told through Gollum's perspective, that means he has to be the main character unless the plot is going to be about Gollum sneaking in the shadows spying on the real plot, but that isn't compatible with Gollum's historical movements. Some side characters that interact with Gollum are to expected, but for big parts of Gollum's movements, those side characters would need to be made up. Cutting away to scenes elsewhere (such as Bilbo having a party) are expected too, but those can't take the majority of the movie or it would no longer be Gollum's perspective.
Yes, I know it all sounds a terrible idea. In the beginning of the movie Gollum would triumph over his own fears to leave his cave, but then in the scary outside world multiple factions are trying to capture and imprison him to ask questions about the One Ring. I imagine the script will drop the part about Gandalf torturing Gollum with fire though.
The title "The Hunt for Gollum" has its source in The Unfinished Tales and wasn't made up for the movie. There is a fan-film of the same name too.
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Ereinion Nénharma
Menegroth
May 10, 10:16am
Post #14 of 20
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... Rings of Power feels fresh and new to me, backed up by an epic enough story to be told. Hunt for Gollem feels, at least, for now, redundant. It was a mere side-quest and with all the same actors, timelines, etc. back in the mix, it feels like just more of the same. And even much less epic.
''Do not fear the shadows, for seeing them means light is near...''
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DGHCaretaker
Nargothrond
May 10, 4:23pm
Post #15 of 20
(65926 views)
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I am not swayed by Boyens' PR. The same quote is pasted into both Variety articles, so there is already a deficit of original reporting. I use reality to drive my analyses. To be taken literally, any dialog must be directly viewed by Gollum. Since that's obviously absurd, and there will be dialog and events without Gollum present, I place some diminished or flexible meaning about "perspective" and the long time before release.
(This post was edited by DGHCaretaker on May 10, 4:33pm)
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Silvered-glass
Nargothrond
May 10, 7:25pm
Post #16 of 20
(65347 views)
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There are people in the entertainment industry who think Gollum has potential as the main character.
The video game The Lord of the Rings: Gollum may have been a critical and commercial failure, but someone must have thought it was a good idea to fund.
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DGHCaretaker
Nargothrond
May 10, 10:26pm
Post #17 of 20
(64704 views)
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Video games and animations operate until completely different rules of imposed real world realities and restrictions.
"There are people..." Yes, there are always these mythical and unsubstantiated people to prop up anecdotes.
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Silvered-glass
Nargothrond
May 13, 6:04am
Post #18 of 20
(58886 views)
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Video games and animations operate until completely different rules of imposed real world realities and restrictions.
"There are people..." Yes, there are always these mythical and unsubstantiated people to prop up anecdotes.
Heavy use of CGI in live-action movies is normal these days. Better Man wasn't even a big movie but still replaced the main character with a CGI monkey. Video games have the advantage over normal live-action movies that the games don't have to worry about the main characters aging out of their role in the course of a series like human actors can. Gollum has the benefit of his CGI model being immortal, which gives him a long-term advantage in marketability.
Also, this game isn't fictional even if it failed hard:
https://en.wikipedia.org/...of_the_Rings:_Gollum
Someone in a position to make decisions clearly must have thought that an official licensed game about Gollum's adventures with Gollum as the only playable character would be a good idea. Then in our case the failure of the game is easily blamed on bugs and an incompetent studio rather than Gollum not having enough appeal as a character. Villain movies are a current movie trend too.
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Paulo Gabriel
Menegroth
Mon, 7:47am
Post #20 of 20
(15009 views)
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Both would be too easy to screw up in today's awful trends of deconstruction, badly written adaptations, gender/race swapping, bad CGI. messaging, and ego projects.
Gotta love how Jackson fanboys react to anything that is "new". Now tell us, why exactly are the six original movies "untouchable"? Hint: they aren't. But go ahead and try, nevertheless. 
(This post was edited by Paulo Gabriel on Mon, 7:49am)
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