“Lord of the Rings”: Amazon, Warner Bros. in Talks for Series Adaptation

Megalith

Megalith

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Warner Bros. Television and the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien are in talks with Amazon Studios to develop a series based on the late author’s “The Lord of the Rings” novels. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is said by sources with knowledge of the situation to be personally involved in the negotiations, which are still in very early stages. No deal has been set.

It is uncommon for Bezos — known to be a fan of high fantasy and science fiction — to involve himself personally in dealmaking for Amazon Studios. But talks for “The Lord of the Rings” come at an uncommon moment for the e-commerce giant’s video-entertainment division. Last month Amazon Studios flushed its executive ranks, with president Roy Price, head of scripted Joe Lewis, and head of unscripted Conrad Riggs all departing.
 
I just don't see the point.
The movies were as long as a 13 episode TV season, so it's not like you would have so much more time to tell the story. Their casting, writing, cinematography, makeup, effects, music and editing were all superb, so it's not like there was some deficiency that you need to correct. Moreover, the casting, locations, and effects will likely not be even matched on a TV budget (not even close), much less surpassed. Also, everyone and their grandmother knows of and watched the movies, so it's not like they are trying to bring a hidden gem to a wider audience.

So why would you spend lots of resources to make an inferior copy of something that already exists and everyone has seen?
If this is all to include the few things that the movie skipped, they might be better off making a series of The Adventures of Tom Bombadil.
 
The point is... we haven't see all 4380 hours of Sam/Frodo's journey...
 
Why? Try to focus on getting one of his other properties that has not been made into a movie. Don't bother with this route to rehash an already amazing movie that has held up with the more advanced graphics that are out currently.
 
The Cobra said:
Why? Try to focus on getting one of his other properties that has not been made into a movie. Don't bother with this route to rehash an already amazing movie that has held up with the more advanced graphics that are out currently.
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I agree. There are lots of book series that can be made into a series or movies.
I would love to see Forgotten Realms with Drizzt and gang!
 
If they make a series, I hope they keep it close to Tolkien's story. And please, for the LOVE OF GOD, keep Peter Jackson far, far away from it.
 
If it was similar quality to premium cable series like Walking Dead or GoT, then sure.
 
maxius said:
The point is THIS http://www.tolkienlibrary.com/booksbytolkien/silmarillion/description.htm There is so much more to the entire ethos of middle earth than the journey of the hobbits possessing the one ring. Peter Jackson actually wanted to do more movies within the universe but the Tolkien estate said no. there is enough material in the silmarillion to keep journeying to middle earth for a long time
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They the studios screwed over the Tolkien estate, I can't hardly blame them
 
meh, they should just edit the hobbit/lotr extended cuts to mini series they wont have to cut anything.
 
Id absolutely love either a series or movie of The Similarion! Absolutely amazing book. It's too bad JR didn't get to write it wholly himself, but still it was does very well. It truly is the bible of middle earth.
 
Dear Amazon-
Please make the Silmarillion into a thing I can watch on the television.

Thank you.

Ps- also please start accepting bitcoin. And start the drone delivery thing.
And pizza deliveries.

Kthxbye
 
craigdt said:
Dear Amazon-
Please make the Silmarillion into a thing I can watch on the television.

Thank you.
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I would totally watch this. Unfortunately, I doubt it would get the viewership it needs to make it viable. I can always hope that someone's got the balls to prove me wrong.
 
I vote NO because it would just be lame. The movies were fantastic even if they where off from the book a little. When we start taking material like the LOTR and turn it to TV series they always try to make it PC and that would suck.
 
Madoc said:
If they make a series, I hope they keep it close to Tolkien's story. And please, for the LOVE OF GOD, keep Peter Jackson far, far away from it.
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As someone who has read the books and watched all the movies, I fail to understand your problem with Peter Jackson. While I agree there were some changes made, I can't think of many that weren't necessary in the context of a movie to make it accessible to everyone including those who didn't read the books.
 
The Extended Editions of all three films should be enough for any fan. Try doing a marathon of them in one sitting.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
As someone who has read the books and watched all the movies, I fail to understand your problem with Peter Jackson. While I agree there were some changes made, I can't think of many that weren't necessary in the context of a movie to make it accessible to everyone including those who didn't read the books.
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Indeed. There were couple of awkward "cool bro" scenes but otherwise Jackson did a damn good job. LOTR book as a source material is too big and slow moving on its own so it cannot be adapted into a film as it is. Changes were mandatory if you wanted to make it work as a trilogy movie and for the most part the LOTR trilogy was a glorious success.

Now if the TV serie is going to happen they better stay as faithful as possible to the book to make it differ from the movies as much as possible.
Except for the Tom Bombadil part because screw that guy. He gets on my nerves even on text format so I can't even imagine what he would be like on film. :D
 
Hagrid said:
I agree. There are lots of book series that can be made into a series or movies.
I would love to see Forgotten Realms with Drizzt and gang!
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Lot of character development in that series tho. I would start with Elminster's story then move on to Drizzt and friends.
 
There was much stuff in the books (though I only read Fellowship) that hadn't made it to the films, but... the timing is bad. It's still too soon, people are still watching the Hobbit, reading the books. I'd wait till it blows over and use the series as a reboot of the whole franchise.
 
There could do a sequel where older characters from the original movies would help a new cast fighting an army of goblins lead by a much bigger eye. In short, same story as original but with a mix of new and original cast and BIGGER eye.
 
Troz said:
Lot of character development in that series tho. I would start with Elminster's story then move on to Drizzt and friends.
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Still though, I bet most of us would die to see Dark Elf trilogy, Drizzt's origin story, brought to the big screen.

Although the visual side may be quite hard to pull off. Two out of the three books are in the underground and it is mostly pitch black. Drow elfs see heat in the darkness (IIRC) and very weak lightsources are rarely around, mostly when somebody needs to read something from paper. Otherwise they prefer pitch black enviroment as light feels uncomfortable to their eyes. How do you transfer something like this into a film?
 
Obviously, there are many other things that could be better episodic material.
 
MaZa said:
Still though, I bet most of us would die to see Dark Elf trilogy, Drizzt's origin story, brought to the big screen.

Although the visual side may be quite hard to pull off. Two out of the three books are in the underground and it is mostly pitch black. Drow elfs see heat in the darkness (IIRC) and very weak lightsources are rarely around, mostly when somebody needs to read something from paper. Otherwise they prefer pitch black enviroment as light feels uncomfortable to their eyes. How do you transfer something like this into a film?
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That was the first real series that got me into fantasy. I really don't see any way to adapt that to screen without butchering it.
 
Hmm...not sure about a tv series. Hopefully they don't go all Game of Thrones and add a bunch of tits and dicks to season 1.
 
Personally I would like to see a live action Dragonlance series or on the darker side the Cold Fire trilogy from C S Friedman over another retelling of LOTR. There is a ton of stuff from the old TSR vault. Not to mention Wheel of Time, Ringworld, Xanth, and lots of others.
 
If they actually intend to do the Lord of the Rings story, I agree I don't see the point. The movies are incredible. There is no way to improve on them. Furthermore, it doesn't seem like a good fit for a TV series anyway. There is a finite amount of material to use there, which goes against the general concept of television series running year after year until viewership drops low enough for the story to continue. It would be a mini-series at that point, and I don't see the appeal in that for Amazon. If they were able to secure the rights to do an original story in the realm of Middle Earth, that could be pretty cool. The amount of lore that Tolkien created for his universe is mind-boggling. There is a ton of material to work with, and as long as they stay faithful to Tolkiens lore, people are less likely to scrutinize every detail like they would if they were working on an existing story.

With Game of Thrones coming to an end, several TV networks are going to be looking for the next fantasy series to fill that void. Netflix is trying to so with The Witcher, and this could be Amazon's answer to that. A middle earth themed show cannot go for the maturity level of GOT like The Witcher can, but it's a much more established brand that wouldn't need to rely so heavily on having bare tits in every episode to entice viewers.
 
MaZa said:
Still though, I bet most of us would die to see Dark Elf trilogy, Drizzt's origin story, brought to the big screen.

Although the visual side may be quite hard to pull off. Two out of the three books are in the underground and it is mostly pitch black. Drow elfs see heat in the darkness (IIRC) and very weak lightsources are rarely around, mostly when somebody needs to read something from paper. Otherwise they prefer pitch black enviroment as light feels uncomfortable to their eyes. How do you transfer something like this into a film?
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Gonna be awkward doing his origin story when you have to include the part about his sister trying to have sex with him. Unless it
MaZa said:
Still though, I bet most of us would die to see Dark Elf trilogy, Drizzt's origin story, brought to the big screen.

Although the visual side may be quite hard to pull off. Two out of the three books are in the underground and it is mostly pitch black. Drow elfs see heat in the darkness (IIRC) and very weak lightsources are rarely around, mostly when somebody needs to read something from paper. Otherwise they prefer pitch black enviroment as light feels uncomfortable to their eyes. How do you transfer something like this into a film?
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No way they could do his origin because of that fact. While the city proper (Menzoberanzen) is lit somewhat it is still pretty dark. Plus a good bit of it he is in the Underdark on training patrols and such, almost pitch black. Alsothe whole attempted incest (Drizzt's sister wanted to have sex with him at his Melee Magthere fighting school graduation celebration/orgy) You would have to start at book 4. But that would be hard as Wulfgar was pretty much the main character and Drizzt kind of a mentor/sidekick role. But he was such an interesting and popular character he took the lead. So while I love the books (currently reading them again actually) I don't see it working on film.


Or give me a video game movie of Marvel quality. Bioshock 1 and Dishonored would both be amazing if done with Marvel's MCU polish. If any movie big wigs are reading this... Would you kindly make it happen?
 
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