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from the Bilbo-and-Frodo-and-Gandalf,-oh-my! dept.
From Deadline.com:
In its quest to launch a hit fantasy series of the caliber of Game of Thrones, Amazon has closed a massive deal, said to be close to $250 million, to acquire the global TV rights to The Lord of the Rings, based on the fantasy novels by J.R.R. Tolkien. The streaming service has given a multi-season commitment to a LOTR series in the pact, which also includes a potential spin-off series.
The LOTR original series, a prequel to Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring, will be produced by Amazon Studios in cooperation with the Tolkien Estate and Trust, HarperCollins and New Line Cinema, a division of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which produced the hugely successful LOTR movie franchise.
No details about the deal were disclosed but it believed to be dwarfing any TV series pact to date with a whopping price tag attached.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Wednesday November 15 2017, @04:37AM (3 children)
I grew up reading the books, and the movies didn't nail it 100% to be kind.
The LotR movies were excellent, but no, not quite 100%. But they were very good, though unfortunately the first one was the best, and the quality dropped a bit in #2, and even more in #3.
The Hobbit movies weren't even close to 100%. Really, the Hobbit movies kinda ruined it all. So disappointing that they came from the same director too; at least if it was a different director like with the Aliens sequels, we could just discount them that way.
That, and what actors? Be really hard to follow up on some of them. Sean Astin is fairly forgettable, but Gimli, Aragorn, and Gandalf are already cemented.
That's a big problem. Sean Astin is irrelevant: this is supposed to be a prequel, so the hobbits we know wouldn't have any place in it, plus hobbits are short-lived creatures. However, Legolas and Gandalf are immortal, so if those characters appeared in this show it'd be a bit of a problem. Gimli too is old enough to possibly have a role. Aragorn at least is human, so you could replace him with a younger actor, but I'm pretty sure he really isn't supposed to have any significant role in Tolkein lore until FotR.
Honestly, I can't imagine what this show would be about; there's no really great story written by Tolkein before LotR that could be adapted, except the Hobbit, which already has been. So are they just going to make up something in the same universe? Fill in the back-story on some plot point from LotR or Hobbit? Go all the way back to the Silmarillion and try to write an engaging character-based story from that material?
(Score: 2) by WalksOnDirt on Wednesday November 15 2017, @07:06AM (1 child)
Hobbits generally lived longer than people, although not as long as Aragorn's line.
If they wanted to start just before the Hobbit, there were Aragorn's adventures with the Dunadain. Or, you could go back farther and cover the Akallabeth. Of course, you wouldn't have JRR around to write the details, but that would just give modern writers a chance to show their quality.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Wednesday November 15 2017, @03:30PM
but that would just give modern writers a chance to show their quality.
Yeah, good luck with that one.
That's not to say that all modern writers suck (GoT has pretty good writing), but their overall track record isn't great.
The other thing that's likely to happen is they'll write a pretty interesting story that follows a long "story arc", and then they'll cancel it halfway through suddenly. Most modern TV shows seem to follow either that format (e.g. Firefly), or they jump the shark after a few seasons when it becomes painfully obvious the writers were just making shit up as they went along, season by season (e.g., LOST and Battlestar Galactica).
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Wednesday November 15 2017, @08:54AM
Great stories in books do not always translate to great movies. However, Tolkien wrote books like the Silmarillion which were essentially light outlines of tales that could be greatly expanded to make a TV series. All they would need are competent writers...