Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum (2026)

The sad reality of the current state of Hollywood is whatever they make at this point is going to suck, but Gen Z’s and younger Millennials (both generations who haven’t seen enough great movies, or even good movies, to know when they’ve seen mediocre to crap) will think it’s “awesome!”

Stryker2011 said:

The sad reality of the current state of Hollywood is whatever they make at this point is going to suck, but Gen Z’s and younger Millennials (both generations who haven’t seen enough great movies, or even good movies, to know when they’ve seen mediocre to crap) will think it’s “awesome!”

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No offence but this is such a old man yelling at clouds take. There are still plenty of great movies being made.

I was born in '96 so I'm about the youngest a Millennial can be. I've seen plenty of great movies. I grew up watching a bunch of classics from the 70's, 80's and 90's.

They already went to the well too often with all this. It's funny because I rewatched Fellowship last week and marveled at how well it was done, thinking that there would never be a need to make those books into film again.

But I didn't think through the idea that they could beat this dead horse into oblivion with unnecessary prequels, sequels, and spin-offs. If they are going that route, it would be better to bring on new people with fresh ideas instead of rehashing what you did 25 years ago with the same people.

You never know, but I'm not holding out much hope for this.

karamazov80 said:

They already went to the well too often with all this. It's funny because I rewatched Fellowship last week and marveled at how well it was done, thinking that there would never be a need to make those books into film again.

But I didn't think through the idea that they could beat this dead horse into oblivion with unnecessary prequels, sequels, and spin-offs. If they are going that route, it would be better to bring on new people with fresh ideas instead of rehashing what you did 25 years ago with the same people.

You never know, but I'm not holding out much hope for this.

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It's also just too late, especially because they want it to be set in PJ's universe. The actors are almost 25 years older now. Viggo doesn't look like Aragorn anymore and Ian is about to drop dead any moment. Not to mention whoever else they're looking to bring back.

Also pretty sure Saruman plays a role in the story, Christopher Lee is long dead.

If they want to do more LOTR then it has to just be a new thing, rather than relying on the nostalgia of the PJ films.

chrisstbh said:

No offence but this is such a old man yelling at clouds take. There are still plenty of great movies being made.

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While this is true, there are diminishing returns. Part of it is the movie system that exists doesn't reward creativity and risk-taking in the way it used to. It's similar to the music industry. On the one hand, you can make a movie for peanuts, because you don't need to buy film or an expensive camera, you don't need to hire a professional editor even. You could essentially make an entire movie with your phone. But to get eyeballs on it you need promotion and distribution. On top of that, now we have high quality television that pulls creative people away from making films and dilutes the pool of good to great movies that are even considered.

There are always going to be some indie movies that are really interesting and different, but we aren't seeing a lot of real classics that feel like they will stand the test of time. Last ones I can think of that were on that level were in the mid-late 2000s. Maybe some of the more recent work from Tarantino, Scorsese, or P.T. Anderson will have real staying value, but on the order of, say, Casablanca, Seven Samurai, or Star Wars? I'm not so sure. From the '40s through the early '80s there was classic after classic hitting.

Having said all that, there are ebbs and flows in film, and there were periods in the past where at least American film wasn't all that great. The mid-late '80s was pretty pitiful, and in the '90s filmmakers like Tarantino, the Coen Brothers, and David Fincher helped revitalize things. So, maybe that's on the horizon once people have simply had enough lame comic book and jump scare horror movies.

chrisstbh said:

No offence but this is such a old man yelling at clouds take. There are still plenty of great movies being made.

I was born in '96 so I'm about the youngest a Millennial can be. I've seen plenty of great movies. I grew up watching a bunch of classics from the 70's, 80's and 90's.

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No offence taken, and I’m not trying to be offensive in return, but if you’re only going back as far as the ‘70s, you’re really missing out on “true” classics.

Stryker2011 said:

No offence taken, and I’m not trying to be offensive in return, but if you’re only going back as far as the ‘70s, you’re really missing out on “true” classics.

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I've seen movies from probably every decade. But I don't think anything before The Godfather ever stuck with me.

We just had the Dune movies, so I can't take the "Hollywood is dead" criticism seriously. We still get great action flicks like the John Wick movies. There have been so many great movies in recent years.

Garbage movies have always existed and will continue to exist for as long as the industry does. There's just more content than ever before, good and bad, so it just makes you feel like things are worse because of that.

Another live action LOTR movie in the works

https://www.empireonline.com/movies...e-two-films-second-philippa-boyens-exclusive/

karamazov80 said:

They already went to the well too often with all this. It's funny because I rewatched Fellowship last week and marveled at how well it was done, thinking that there would never be a need to make those books into film again.

But I didn't think through the idea that they could beat this dead horse into oblivion with unnecessary prequels, sequels, and spin-offs. If they are going that route, it would be better to bring on new people with fresh ideas instead of rehashing what you did 25 years ago with the same people.

You never know, but I'm not holding out much hope for this.

Click to expand...

chrisstbh said:

Another live action LOTR movie in the works

https://www.empireonline.com/movies...e-two-films-second-philippa-boyens-exclusive/

Click to expand...

I'm not against all this, out of hand. Because, PJ & co. can write; plus WETA's sense of aesthetic.

Tho at the same time am afraid of PJ's inner child - like always wanting a female fighting elf. Which I don't object to; except PJ had to be shouted down over having Arwen show up as a warrior and then there was the Tauriel Mary Sue thing.

There's plenty in LOTR and the Hobbit I would have re-done, including the treatment of Denethor and Faramir. On the other hand, one thing I love about the Hobbit is seeing parts of Middle Earth like Laketown and the HIgh Fells. IMO just seeing the wars in the North - which Legolas alludes to - if done right could be fantastic. Just because Tolkien didn't detail those a lot, Thranduil gained new purpose in the fighting, Dain fell, the whole area was under siege.

Maybe that would belong to another director, sounds like at the moment they are focused on Serkus and his ideas, maybe? TBH the hunt for Gollum in itself doesn't sound that interesting, even the book didn't make it sound interesting.