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Credit: New Line Cinema
It’s been over twenty years since The Lord of the Rings trilogy…
Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens made something incredible. Taking on a body of work like Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” is no mean feat. Over 1000 pages filled with details, characters, entirely new languages, and an overarching plot that needed to be treated with care. Jackon and company could have played it safe, and the movies would have made a profit but would have been ultimately forgettable, sort of like the Rankin Bass take on the subject matter.
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What they did was the complete opposite. Sinking millions of dollars into production and relying heavily on practical effects, Jackson, Walsh, and Boyens created what can only be called an epic! Over the course of the three original films, audiences witnessed the tale of Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) as he and Samwise Gamgee (Sean Astin) took the One Ring to rule them all to Mount Doom, to destroy the Dark Lord Sauron once and for all, aided in no small part by members of the Fellowship like Gandalf (Sir Ian McKellen), Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), the elf Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) the dwarf.
The writing was impeccable, the cast outstanding, and the technology jaw-dropping. Though not the first to use motion capture, Andy Serkis’ work as the character Gollum/Smeagol in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) revolutionized the relatively new technology. The AI used for the hordes of Orcs and Uruk-Hai was amazing and unheard of: the figures would move in unique and individual ways, lending authenticity to massive battles that would have been impossible with extras alone.
The success wasn’t only on the production side either. Audiences loved the series, causing a cultural phenomenon. After the release of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), the trilogy had taken home seventeen Academy Awards and figuring in awards from other associations and organizations, the series still holds the record for most awarded film series in history, with 475 awards to its name. Despite a bumpy road with The Hobbit trilogy, it’s still no wonder that studios would want to make more!
According to news from The Hollywood Reporter, audiences may well be returning to Middle-Earth in theaters soon! The report states that Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema have just struck a deal, allowing for the development of more feature-length films from the world of The Lord of the Rings! The article also states that the deal allows for the studios to produce films based on Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” books.
This tidbit of information reveals that any new Lord of the Rings films, more likely than not, won’t have anything to do with the Amazon series, Rings of Power, but rather will focus on the era of the original films, as well as The Hobbit trilogy. This means fans will likely see some of their favorite characters again, like Aragorn (Mortensen), Gandalf (McKellen), and Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), though if it will be the same cast has yet to be revealed. What has been revealed, however, is something much more encouraging than what happened with Rings of Power!
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Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens have confirmed that they have each been made aware of the recent developments and have been “Kept…in the loop every step of the way.” This, along with other comments in the article, sound very promising, and hopefully, the executives in charge follow through and keep Jackon, Walsh, and Boyens involved with the process. In any case, as long as they leave the original Lord of the Rings trilogy untouched, it’s an exciting prospect!
What do you think about another Lord of the Rings movie? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments below!