Vorel also conjoins, in the interests of a big-picture view, the related film genres of high fantasy (LotR, etc.), science fiction (Star Wars, etc.), and comic book superheroes (Marvel, etc.) as they've dominated the popular film box offices for the two decades that he's writing about. He assumes that a proposed LotR project today would be unacceptable without the studio being assured that an endless series of spin-offs and sequels were included in the rights (Eowynning, right, ha, ha..), but in this assumption he omits the existence of an actual individual author (which the other genres do not have), the role of the Tolkien Estate in representing that author's wishes and vision, and the legally limited rights included in the original sale of the books for filming back in the 1960s. Would the lack of spin-off possibilities really doom a proposed fantasy trilogy by a well-known and prestigious author (whose audience was not just nerds before Jackson's films, no matter what he says)?

I tend to doubt it. It's the Amazon series that's the anomaly here. That 'spin-off' is really only happening because Christopher Tolkien finally retired from his guardianship, not because the industry today demands that all blockbusters must become franchises and 'universes'.

(whose audience was not just nerds before Jackson's films, no matter what he says.