Credit: New Line Cinema
The Lord of the Rings is a storied franchise that became a global phenomenon when filmmaker Peter Jackson took over and adapted his version of the classic Tolkien works. Though the original trilogy of movies was met with plenty of fanfare, the following Hobbit movies and the new series are not all that great. Now, it has been announced a new series of films is in the works, and an original trilogy star has questioned the motives behind the new films.
Lord of the Rings is plenty of lore to go off, as Tolkien’s books are many and very detailed. Though the new Rings of Power series decided to go a different route, it wasn’t well received. It could be because it’s difficult to truly pack that much lore into a singular movie or series of films. Jackson has been the most successful, as he won an Academy Award for Return of the King, but everything else has just fallen flat.
Because we are in the age of reboots and remakes, it makes perfect sense that Warner Bros. wants to try its hand are releasing another set of movies that revolve around the air that was mega successful. Even more interesting is that Peter Jackson and his producing partners have reportedly been “kept in the loop” regarding the process of these new movies.
Despite the great news that Jackson could be involved in this new set of movies, not everyone is convinced, including the main star of the original trilogy.
Elijah Wood sat down with GQ when asked how he felt about the announcement that more movies were coming. According to Wood, “I’m fascinated and I’m excited. I hope it’s good.”
He could have just responded nicely, but Wood delved more into his feelings about it and how art should always outweigh the commerce side.
“Obviously at the core of that is a desire to make a lot of money. It’s not that a bunch of executives are like, ‘Let’s make really awesome art.’ And, again, not begrudging anybody, because of course, it is commerce. But great art can come from commerce. So those two things are not mutually exclusive,” he added.
Elijah Wood might be nicely saying that he hopes the new Lord of the Rings movies are not simply a “cash grab,” and that is something that the legions of fans worldwide are hoping for too. Sometimes when a franchise is built in a way that works well, it happens only once. Rehashing the same stories repeatedly with the same result never ends well. Just look at the X-Men movies.
We hope that with Peter Jackson being involved, the franchise can find a new way to be just as successful as when he was sitting behind the camera. We also hope that he will sit behind the camera again.
Are you excited about the Lord of the Rings reboots? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!