Amazon Studios CEO Jeff Bezos is apparently in talks with the Tolkien estate as well as Warner Bros. TV to house a Lord of the Rings TV series.

No, seriously — this is not a joke. Variety just broke the exclusive news they claim to have sources on, stating things are still in the “early stages”, with “no deal set yet.”

Long rumored to be in development (usually as an April Fool’s Day story run about the Silmarillion), WB has apparently been looking for a home for a LoTR series. It stands to reason that the large TV options like Netflix and HBO were courted, but it seems like the competitive situation has Amazon as the frontrunner.

There has been no official denial of this project from Amazon, Warner Bros., or the Tolkien Estate. But there also hasn’t been a confirmation, either.

After the three Peter Jackson LoTR prequel The Hobbit films (with extended cuts, because of course there are), is the world really ready for another trip to Middle Earth? There’s no telling where the story might take place in the rich history of the high-fantasy world Tolkien created.

Fox Searchlight is currently filming their Tolkien biopic starring Nicholas Hoult (Mad Max: Fury Road, X-Men: First Class) as the author of one of the most enduring fantasy worlds. And who could forget that time a few years ago where there were no less than three planned films about J.R.R. and his life? This proposed TV series is apparently none of those, though.

We’ll keep you updated as any more information about this project surfaces.

 reds8n wrote:
Tom Bombadil : PI for hire sounds good to me.

With a new entish poem every week.

NOVEMBER 4, 2017 at 5:54 PM BY ALTAIRA -
Fellowship of the RingAs is to be expected, the internet, our discussion forums, and comments to our story from yesterday are abuzz with the news broken by Variety magazine yesterday of talks between Warner Brothers and Amazon to make a series adaptation based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Since there are many outstanding questions, we thought we’d go back over some of the background related to the movie and television rights to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, as well as relate some additional information also published yesterday at Deadline Hollywood.


First, a history lesson and some background as to how the rights for the movies and television have changed hands over the years. J.R.R. Tolkien sold the movie rights to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit to United Artists in 1969 who later sold them to The Saul Zaentz Company. The rights included motion pictures, merchandising, DVD, stage, and television. Through its division, Middle-earth Enterprises (formerly Tolkien Enterprises), The Saul Zaentz Company licensed the movie rights to Mirimax in 1997, which assigned them to New Line Cinema in 1998. Newline was acquired by Turner Broadcasting System in 1994, merged with Time Warner in 1996, then later merged with Warner Bros. Entertainment in 2008. All along the way, the movie rights went with them.

By now, you probably feel like asking, ‘who’s on first?!’ But, this background illustrates how Middle-earth Enterprises came to own the rights to make movies from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and, more importantly related to recent news, television.

One thing that remains unclear is whether Middle-earth Enterprises also assigned the rights to television; rights that eventually made their way to Warner Bros. Entertainment somewhere along the way. It’s also possible that those rights were assigned separately at some point in time, or will be assigned in the future based on the outcome of the current negotiations.

One thing that *is* clear is that J.R.R. Tolkien sold the rights to produce a television series along with the movie rights back in 1969, so those rights are no longer owned by The Tolkien Estate (i.e., Tolkien’s heirs). That makes it interesting that the Variety article, which hasn’t been updated as of this writing, would say the ‘estate of J.R.R. Tolkien’ is in talks in tandem with Warner Bros..

As the Variety article implied, Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, has been wanting to launch a major fantasy series along the lines of HBO’s Game of Thrones. As it turns out, the project has been shopped not only to Amazon, but to Netflix and HBO as well. In an article that also came out yesterday, Nellie Andreeva at Deadline Hollywood has heard that HBO has dropped out of the running almost certainly because of the hefty price tag: upfront payments in the range of $200 – $250 million just for the rights to then produce a series that could cost up to $150 million per season.

One more thing that’s abundantly clear is that there are many unanswered questions. We’ve reached out to our contacts and will report any new developments as soon as we, or others on the internet, know of them!

 reds8n wrote:
http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2017/11/04/104363-lotr-tv-series-some-background-and-more-information/

NOVEMBER 4, 2017 at 5:54 PM BY ALTAIRA -
Fellowship of the RingAs is to be expected, the internet, our discussion forums, and comments to our story from yesterday are abuzz with the news broken by Variety magazine yesterday of talks between Warner Brothers and Amazon to make a series adaptation based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Since there are many outstanding questions, we thought we’d go back over some of the background related to the movie and television rights to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, as well as relate some additional information also published yesterday at Deadline Hollywood.


First, a history lesson and some background as to how the rights for the movies and television have changed hands over the years. J.R.R. Tolkien sold the movie rights to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit to United Artists in 1969 who later sold them to The Saul Zaentz Company. The rights included motion pictures, merchandising, DVD, stage, and television. Through its division, Middle-earth Enterprises (formerly Tolkien Enterprises), The Saul Zaentz Company licensed the movie rights to Mirimax in 1997, which assigned them to New Line Cinema in 1998. Newline was acquired by Turner Broadcasting System in 1994, merged with Time Warner in 1996, then later merged with Warner Bros. Entertainment in 2008. All along the way, the movie rights went with them.

By now, you probably feel like asking, ‘who’s on first?!’ But, this background illustrates how Middle-earth Enterprises came to own the rights to make movies from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and, more importantly related to recent news, television.

One thing that remains unclear is whether Middle-earth Enterprises also assigned the rights to television; rights that eventually made their way to Warner Bros. Entertainment somewhere along the way. It’s also possible that those rights were assigned separately at some point in time, or will be assigned in the future based on the outcome of the current negotiations.

One thing that *is* clear is that J.R.R. Tolkien sold the rights to produce a television series along with the movie rights back in 1969, so those rights are no longer owned by The Tolkien Estate (i.e., Tolkien’s heirs). That makes it interesting that the Variety article, which hasn’t been updated as of this writing, would say the ‘estate of J.R.R. Tolkien’ is in talks in tandem with Warner Bros..

As the Variety article implied, Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, has been wanting to launch a major fantasy series along the lines of HBO’s Game of Thrones. As it turns out, the project has been shopped not only to Amazon, but to Netflix and HBO as well. In an article that also came out yesterday, Nellie Andreeva at Deadline Hollywood has heard that HBO has dropped out of the running almost certainly because of the hefty price tag: upfront payments in the range of $200 – $250 million just for the rights to then produce a series that could cost up to $150 million per season.

One more thing that’s abundantly clear is that there are many unanswered questions. We’ve reached out to our contacts and will report any new developments as soon as we, or others on the internet, know of them!

 Jadenim wrote:
Young Aragorn I could see working, there's reference in the books that he'd been all over middle earth as a ranger, including into Mordor and the Eastern lands before you get to LoTR. Plus you get to have the secret / forbidden romance development with Arwen.

The fall of Numenor could also work, in a Game of Thrones way, politics and intrigue in a failing society.

I wouldn't even mind a better version of the hobbit, but I can't see how you make that into a TV series really (not with any longevity anyway).

But retreading the main book would be a huge mistake; the original Peter Jackson films are absolutely iconic and, certain issues aside, incredibly difficult to better.

 Kilkrazy wrote:
Young Gandalf at wizard school.

 reds8n wrote:


..Or perhaps we'll finally get an answer as to how/why the orcs are familiar with the concept of a "menu".

 Grey Templar wrote:
Anything in the Silmarillian could be a good TV show. Or one about the fall of Arnor. Remaking any of the stuff that's been made so far, that however is unacceptable.

 malamis wrote:
If it goes the route of Shadow Of Mordor/War and puts some meat on ancillary characters ... good times approach

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
We have it on good authority from a fellow Dakkaite who is great friends with Christopher Tolkien, the best friends, that the Tolkien estate would never allow any creative to deviate so far from the source material like Jackson did ever again.

kronk wrote:

 reds8n wrote:


..Or perhaps we'll finally get an answer as to how/why the orcs are familiar with the concept of a "menu".

Mordor has tons of restaurants, silly.

But you need a reservation.

One does not simply walk in...

Moria the series, detailing the rise and fall of Balin would be awesome to watch- but again, it isn't something that should be stretched out too far.

 Kilkrazy wrote:
Any time you see the film of a book, if you've read the book, you know the outcome of the film. The point of watching is the visual and aural treat, the production values, the quality of the performances and so on.

Obviously there may be some people who went to see LoTR or The Hobbit without ever having read the books, but it surely must have been a minority. (That said, in my family, neither my wife nor daughter have read any of the books so I was the odd one out...)

 Kroem wrote:

I think setting it in the 4th age about the cult of Morgoth would make a decent drama and they would have more freedom about what happens since Tolkein never wrote that part.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:

 Kilkrazy wrote:
Any time you see the film of a book, if you've read the book, you know the outcome of the film. The point of watching is the visual and aural treat, the production values, the quality of the performances and so on.

Obviously there may be some people who went to see LoTR or The Hobbit without ever having read the books, but it surely must have been a minority. (That said, in my family, neither my wife nor daughter have read any of the books so I was the odd one out...)

A minority? Who didn't read a book? Not in America!

Seriously though, reading never had that kind of cultural penetration here.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
We have it on good authority from a fellow Dakkaite who is great friends with Christopher Tolkien, the best friends, that the Tolkien estate would never allow any creative to deviate so far from the source material like Jackson did ever again.

 Dreadwinter wrote:
I would take a Hobbit show that covers what happens in the shire during the trilogy. Or just a sitcom set in the shire. Nothing really ever happens but they always make a big deal over nothing. That could be entertaining.

Kilkrazy wrote:Any time you see the film of a book, if you've read the book, you know the outcome of the film. The point of watching is the visual and aural treat, the production values, the quality of the performances and so on.

Obviously there may be some people who went to see LoTR or The Hobbit without ever having read the books, but it surely must have been a minority. (That said, in my family, neither my wife nor daughter have read any of the books so I was the odd one out...)

True, but I think that could lose a lot of people. Especially since you'd be making it up as you went along.

I think it would be best to at least get the Silmarilian out of the way, and myriad of other material, before you started with a half baked idea that Tolkien himself trashed.

 Manchu wrote:
The Children of Hurin could probably be one or maybe even two seasons.

 Just Tony wrote:

My original point was in the context of the cinematic medium. ANY prequels are hamstrung by being prequels, and usually manage to blow up continuity while they're at it. You could call it being Enterprise-d. THAT is why I'm usually not on board with prequels. I was dreading AbramsTrek because it was advertised as a prequel, and wasn't really stoked until I heard it was essentially a reboot. That is why I think prequels peter out in the end. No real sense of danger is there unless you know the character isn't in the later movies. Episode 1 from Star Wars is a great example. I really only gave a gak about Qui Gonn and Darth Maul, because I didn't know where they were eventually going to end up.

 Easy E wrote:
Why?

They should do a Drizzit TV show! <Ducks flying fruit>

 Yodhrin wrote:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
We have it on good authority from a fellow Dakkaite who is great friends with Christopher Tolkien, the best friends, that the Tolkien estate would never allow any creative to deviate so far from the source material like Jackson did ever again.

And yet Sexy Shelob exists.

 Just Tony wrote:
First Blood was the first Rambo movie, a phenomena of US Cold War culture. The other phenomena is that it was the FIRST of those movies, especially since the film was an adaptation of a novel that ended with Rambo's character getting killed ala "Of Mice And Men" by his former commander.

I'm aware of what is contained in the "I, Robot" book. It is sitting on my shelf next to almost everything sci fi the man ever wrote. And that is why I pointed out the difference. I guess I could have also listed "I Am Legend" as one that ends differently...




HOWEVER


My original point was in the context of the cinematic medium. ANY prequels are hamstrung by being prequels, and usually manage to blow up continuity while they're at it. You could call it being Enterprise-d. THAT is why I'm usually not on board with prequels. I was dreading AbramsTrek because it was advertised as a prequel, and wasn't really stoked until I heard it was essentially a reboot. That is why I think prequels peter out in the end. No real sense of danger is there unless you know the character isn't in the later movies. Episode 1 from Star Wars is a great example. I really only gave a gak about Qui Gonn and Darth Maul, because I didn't know where they were eventually going to end up.

Yodhrin wrote:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
We have it on good authority from a fellow Dakkaite who is great friends with Christopher Tolkien, the best friends, that the Tolkien estate would never allow any creative to deviate so far from the source material like Jackson did ever again.

And yet Sexy Shelob exists.

Yodhrin wrote:

 Just Tony wrote:
First Blood was the first Rambo movie, a phenomena of US Cold War culture. The other phenomena is that it was the FIRST of those movies, especially since the film was an adaptation of a novel that ended with Rambo's character getting killed ala "Of Mice And Men" by his former commander.

I'm aware of what is contained in the "I, Robot" book. It is sitting on my shelf next to almost everything sci fi the man ever wrote. And that is why I pointed out the difference. I guess I could have also listed "I Am Legend" as one that ends differently...




HOWEVER


My original point was in the context of the cinematic medium. ANY prequels are hamstrung by being prequels, and usually manage to blow up continuity while they're at it. You could call it being Enterprise-d. THAT is why I'm usually not on board with prequels. I was dreading AbramsTrek because it was advertised as a prequel, and wasn't really stoked until I heard it was essentially a reboot. That is why I think prequels peter out in the end. No real sense of danger is there unless you know the character isn't in the later movies. Episode 1 from Star Wars is a great example. I really only gave a gak about Qui Gonn and Darth Maul, because I didn't know where they were eventually going to end up.

So, out of interest - do you just never rewatch/reread anything ever?

 Kilkrazy wrote:
Great Middle Earth Bake-Off!

 Just Tony wrote:

Yodhrin wrote:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
We have it on good authority from a fellow Dakkaite who is great friends with Christopher Tolkien, the best friends, that the Tolkien estate would never allow any creative to deviate so far from the source material like Jackson did ever again.

And yet Sexy Shelob exists.

I'm not sure I want to know, but I think I NEED to know. I'm terrified of where to look, though...

 Disciple of Fate wrote:

 Just Tony wrote:

Yodhrin wrote:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
We have it on good authority from a fellow Dakkaite who is great friends with Christopher Tolkien, the best friends, that the Tolkien estate would never allow any creative to deviate so far from the source material like Jackson did ever again.

And yet Sexy Shelob exists.

I'm not sure I want to know, but I think I NEED to know. I'm terrified of where to look, though...

Its not as bad as you think, but not very good either. In the new LOTR game Shadow of War they turned Shelob into a shapeshifting sexy woman for some reason. Here is the safe google image result of Shadow of War Shelob:
https://www.google.nl/search?q=shadow+of+war+shelob&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjlztmM5LnXAhXL_aQKHZMuBQUQ_AUICigB&biw=1920&bih=974

 Grey Templar wrote:

 Disciple of Fate wrote:

 Just Tony wrote:

Yodhrin wrote:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
We have it on good authority from a fellow Dakkaite who is great friends with Christopher Tolkien, the best friends, that the Tolkien estate would never allow any creative to deviate so far from the source material like Jackson did ever again.

And yet Sexy Shelob exists.

I'm not sure I want to know, but I think I NEED to know. I'm terrified of where to look, though...

Its not as bad as you think, but not very good either. In the new LOTR game Shadow of War they turned Shelob into a shapeshifting sexy woman for some reason. Here is the safe google image result of Shadow of War Shelob:
https://www.google.nl/search?q=shadow+of+war+shelob&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjlztmM5LnXAhXL_aQKHZMuBQUQ_AUICigB&biw=1920&bih=974

I think somebody mixed up Ungoliant and Shelob. Ungoliant could shapeshift.

Disciple of Fate wrote:

 Just Tony wrote:

Yodhrin wrote:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
We have it on good authority from a fellow Dakkaite who is great friends with Christopher Tolkien, the best friends, that the Tolkien estate would never allow any creative to deviate so far from the source material like Jackson did ever again.

And yet Sexy Shelob exists.

I'm not sure I want to know, but I think I NEED to know. I'm terrified of where to look, though...

Its not as bad as you think, but not very good either. In the new LOTR game Shadow of War they turned Shelob into a shapeshifting sexy woman for some reason. Here is the safe google image result of Shadow of War Shelob:
https://www.google.nl/search?q=shadow+of+war+shelob&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjlztmM5LnXAhXL_aQKHZMuBQUQ_AUICigB&biw=1920&bih=974

 Just Tony wrote:

Disciple of Fate wrote:

 Just Tony wrote:

Yodhrin wrote:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
We have it on good authority from a fellow Dakkaite who is great friends with Christopher Tolkien, the best friends, that the Tolkien estate would never allow any creative to deviate so far from the source material like Jackson did ever again.

And yet Sexy Shelob exists.

I'm not sure I want to know, but I think I NEED to know. I'm terrified of where to look, though...

Its not as bad as you think, but not very good either. In the new LOTR game Shadow of War they turned Shelob into a shapeshifting sexy woman for some reason. Here is the safe google image result of Shadow of War Shelob:
https://www.google.nl/search?q=shadow+of+war+shelob&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjlztmM5LnXAhXL_aQKHZMuBQUQ_AUICigB&biw=1920&bih=974

Definitely odd... wait. There's NSFW stuff? Please tell me it was not in game, and simply relegated to Rule #34...

 Just Tony wrote:

Disciple of Fate wrote:

 Just Tony wrote:

Yodhrin wrote:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
We have it on good authority from a fellow Dakkaite who is great friends with Christopher Tolkien, the best friends, that the Tolkien estate would never allow any creative to deviate so far from the source material like Jackson did ever again.

And yet Sexy Shelob exists.

I'm not sure I want to know, but I think I NEED to know. I'm terrified of where to look, though...

Its not as bad as you think, but not very good either. In the new LOTR game Shadow of War they turned Shelob into a shapeshifting sexy woman for some reason. Here is the safe google image result of Shadow of War Shelob:
https://www.google.nl/search?q=shadow+of+war+shelob&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjlztmM5LnXAhXL_aQKHZMuBQUQ_AUICigB&biw=1920&bih=974

Definitely odd... wait. There's NSFW stuff? Please tell me it was not in game, and simply relegated to Rule #34...

The company has made a multi-season production commitment to a television adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy epic The Lord of the Rings.

It’s a major deal securing one of the biggest brands in pop culture for what’s likely to be one of the most expensive TV shows ever made.

But there’s a catch, creatively speaking: The series will explore storylines set before the events in the first LOTR novel, The Fellowship of the Ring. In other words: The war to destroy the One Ring as chronicled in Peter Jackson’s Oscar-winning trilogy of films will not be told in the TV version. So this story is either set before The Hobbit or in between The Hobbit and LOTR.

This something we’ve seen with other recent TV series when they tackle major cinematic titles with certain rights restrictions. Like how Fox’s Gotham can tell the story of young Bruce Wayne but not Batman, how FX’s Legion and Fox’s The Gifted have to avoid using the term “X-Men” even though they’re X-Men projects, or how Syfy’s upcoming series based on The Purge films will be set in between actual Purges.

Amazon’s deal includes a potential addition of a spin-off series as well.

“We are delighted that Amazon, with its longstanding commitment to literature, is the home of the first-ever multi-season television series for The Lord of the Rings,” said Matt Galsor, a representative for the Tolkien Estate and Trust and HarperCollins. “Sharon and the team at Amazon Studios have exceptional ideas to bring to the screen previously unexplored stories based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s original writings.”

There’s no cast or premiere date yet, but the series will eventually stream on Amazon Prime.

The move by Amazon comes as HBO prepares to conclude its mammoth fantasy hit Game of Thrones, which will almost certainly premiere its final six episodes in 2019. HBO is developing multiple potential prequel series based on author George R.R. Martin’s Westerosi history, though none are guaranteed to air.

In a way, Amazon’s LOTR project and HBO’s GoT prequels face the exact same challenge: The great high-stakes story and beloved characters that made each tale such a classic will have already been told — and both benefited from mining a fantasy author’s years of extraordinary effort producing more than a thousand pages of intricate creative storytelling. So can a network find writers who can successfully bootstrap a relatively new-ish story set in these familiar fantasy worlds that capture at least some percentage of the original work’s worldwide appeal?

This is what Marvel is already doing with its big screen heroes and Disney with its new Star Wars titles, so it’s certainly possible. A series is in some respects more difficult than pulling off two-hour film, however. As a wise man once wrote: “You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off…”

 Spinner wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:

 Disciple of Fate wrote:

 Just Tony wrote:

Yodhrin wrote:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
We have it on good authority from a fellow Dakkaite who is great friends with Christopher Tolkien, the best friends, that the Tolkien estate would never allow any creative to deviate so far from the source material like Jackson did ever again.

And yet Sexy Shelob exists.

I'm not sure I want to know, but I think I NEED to know. I'm terrified of where to look, though...

Its not as bad as you think, but not very good either. In the new LOTR game Shadow of War they turned Shelob into a shapeshifting sexy woman for some reason. Here is the safe google image result of Shadow of War Shelob:
https://www.google.nl/search?q=shadow+of+war+shelob&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjlztmM5LnXAhXL_aQKHZMuBQUQ_AUICigB&biw=1920&bih=974

I think somebody mixed up Ungoliant and Shelob. Ungoliant could shapeshift.

Right, and since Ungoliant was Shelob's mother, the SoW team decided to give her that ability too. I mean, I get why they really did it, but it worked out okay in the narrative and they used the background to justify it. Honestly, if whatever show Amazon wants to do does as good a job sticking to Tolkien's major themes (even if the specifics get a little...stretched...like butter scraped over too much bread ) as the Shadow series, I'd be happy.

Moria: the Series would probably be the only thing to get me super excited, though. I'd be too nervous about them trying something with the Silmarillion to get hyped, and there's a lot they could do with the rise and fall of Balin.

It turns out a “Lord of the Rings” TV series isn’t the biggest Tolkien news of the week or the month or the year.

Christopher Tolkien, son and literary heir of J.R.R. Tolkien, resigned from the Tolkien Estate. And his departure changes everything.

Christopher is 93 and just this year edited and published one of his father’s works “Beren and Luthien,” which as even casual Tolkienites know, refers to his parents with the names of those characters adorning their tombstones.

In the preface of the book he writes, “this is (preemptively) my last book in the long series of editions of my father’s writings.” It seems he was planning to retire already. Personally, learning the greatest Tolkien scholar, and a man who has honored his father in an exemplary way, has left the care of his father’s legacy to others feels like reading the end of LOTR where Galadriel, Elrond and the other great elves leave Middle-earth. There is a keen sadness, but admiration and beauty as well.

But even if you aren’t sentimental, he deserves any Tolkien fan’s deep respect. But it bears repeating, this changes everything.

The news reached me by friend Michael Martinez via Twitter on his blog. Martinez has an exceptional mind for Tolkien.

He understood perfectly that Christopher R. Tolkien’s departure signals the end of an era.

“With Christopher’s departure as an officer of the Tolkien Estate (which was incorporated in 2011), the long-awaited “rights frenzy” for Tolkien properties may soon begin,” he wrote.

Yes, and it seemingly has already happened. This is a definite piece of the puzzle of the recent news of the Amazon Video deal. I had heard through rock solid, but not reportable sources several years ago that other members of the estate were much more willing to negotiate J.R.R. Tolkien’s properties while Christopher was far more interested in preserving legacy than money.

The settlement between Warner Bros. and the Tolkien Estate settled an $80 million lawsuit July 3. Part of the statement the studio released at the time was unusually upbeat for an entity that just paid out big money:

“The parties are pleased that they have amicably resolved this matter and look forward to working together in the future.”

The future mentioned in that statement is this week and beyond, and it was obviously in the works then. According to a U.K. government website, Christopher resigned on Aug. 31. One would expect formal resignations of this nature take time to manage legally, so it also was in the works for some time I suspect. What I wouldn’t give to have been in the room for that passing of the torch.

So in quick fashion, after the seismic change, the estate has sold the television rights for book “The Lord of the Rings.” Warners paid the court dispute so there would be a relationship moving forward and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos rewarded both entities handsomely.

Another important thing to note here, and another piece of the puzzle, is that the television rights to “The Hobbit” and “Lord of the Rings” were NOT sold when J.R.R. Tolkien sold the movie rights in 1969. Those rights were for motion pictures. TORn staffer and author Kristin Thompson informed our staff about this. She has first-hand documentation and as author of “The Frodo Franchise,” knows this stuff as well as anybody. And obviously you can and should buy her book on Amazon.com. I believe another TORn news article is expected on just this point.

This explains why the estate was so involved in the Amazon deal; they were selling something. It also explains why Tolkien Enterprises was absent from the latest news.

But the bigger ramifications of all this are far greater than a multi-season Amazon series. The new leadership of the estate seem much more willing to deal Tolkien properties than Christopher was and this confirms my well placed sources.

This opens up Tolkien and Middle-earth as possible franchises in the same way that Harry Potter’s world is a place you can visit at Universal Studios or that Disney will soon have a Star Wars area. There are few properties in the world that can be talked about in the same way as Middle-earth. Warner Bros. see the value and so does Amazon.

That doesn’t mean the Tolkien Estate will move toward making the rights to “Beren And Luthien” available but it does mean my wish to produce “The Silmarillion” as HBO series is slightly less impossible than it was before. That is what has changed really. Things once impossible are now possible.

The estate may elect to only allow more content based solely on “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings.” Or they may carefully cultivate the entire library.

Because of the depth of J.R.R. Tolkien’s legendarium, there is a virtually endless fountain of material. As Martinez points out in his blog, what will be produced is essentially fan fiction. As Disney has expanded the Galaxy far-far away, and HBO is planning its growth of George R.R. Martin’s Westeros world, so too could Amazon and Warner Bros expand Middle-earth.

Much of that possibility rests with the estate but just Appendix A in “The Lord of the Rings” offers a wealth of content. The imagination soars with possibilities.

This will no doubt anger many fans and delight many others, as the Amazon deal already has. Some don’t want to see the compromise of the author’s vision. Funny enough, this also seems to have a whole new batch of fans upset because they don’t want Amazon’s product to compromise Peter Jackson’s vision of Tolkien’s vision.

The officers of the Tolkien Estate still count among their numbers Tolkien’s youngest child Priscilla Tolkien and other grandchildren in the family.

This is over-long already but a final word on Christopher Tolkien’s departure. Here is a man who is a treasure, and who carries in his heart and mind the voice and essence of his father. The significance of his departure cannot be over stated.

I close with another poignant passage he wrote about his father in the preface of his final contribution to the Tolkien legacy, “Beren and Luthien.”

“In a letter to me on the subject of my mother, written in the year after her death, which was also the year before his own, he wrote of his overwhelming sense of bereavement, and of his wish to have Luthien inscribed beneath her name on the grave. He returned in that letter … to the origin of the tale of Beren and Luthien in a small woodland glade filled with hemlock flowers near Roos in Yorkshire, where she danced; and he said: ‘But the story has gone crooked, and I am left, and I cannot plead before the inexorable Mandos.’

Thank you Christopher Tolkien. We are going to miss you and your strength and determination to contribute to and preserve the legacy of your father.

 Grey Templar wrote:
Silmarillion would definitely be HBO material. Your guys need some work now that GoT is wrapping up right?

Our friends over at TheOneRing.net have learned that the much-anticipated Lord of the Rings mega-series from Amazon’s streaming arm will focus its first season around a young Aragorn. Amazon Studios inked a deal late in 2017 representing a quarter-billion dollar literary rights contract for them to produce a multi-season series based on J. R. R. Tolkien‘s many novels.

According to the contract, they must start production no later than two years after the signing of the contract otherwise the rights will lapse. However, Amazon has already put a lot of buzz around their internal excitement on the project, and there’s little chance that we won’t see something in the 2019 season.

“Young” in Tolkien’s novels, even for a human, can mean a wide age range. At the time of the Battle of Five Armies at the end of The Hobbit, Aragorn would have been around 10 years old, while he’s 87 at the Council of Elrond in The Fellowship of the Ring. So a “young” series would likely either pick up directly after the events in the Hobbit, or within a decade or so later.

Amazon is reportedly investing more than a billion dollars into the project and will produce the series in co-operation with the Tolkien Estate and Trust, book publishers HarperCollins, and New Line Cinema.

 reds8n wrote:
.. arise ye thread of old....


show official twitter account :

https://twitter.com/LOTRonPrime

website :

https://www.amazon.com/adlp/lotronprime

latter currently being just a map

"“I wisely started with a map” — J.R.R. Tolkien"
ha. Indeed.

As author J.R.R. Tolkien once said of writing his Middle-earthian books, “I wisely started with a map.” So, over the past couple of weeks, Amazon too started promoting its forthcoming The Lord of the Rings series by releasing a series of maps. While they sparked a lively debate from fans about what they all mean for the series, the time period setting is now confirmed.

“Welcome to the Second Age,” Amazon tweeted on Thursday morning.

A long-standing theory posited the series would focus on a younger Aragorn, played in Peter Jackson’s films by Viggo Mortensen. However, that character, the future ruler of Gondor, was born during the Third Age. So we can nix that rumor right now.

The Second Age is also known as “The Age of Númenor.” Fans will notice that, in the most recently updated map for the Amazon fantasy epic, the island of Númenor is shown in the bottom left corner.

It’s not yet clear whether Númenor will serve as a major setting for Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings, though its presence already answers some questions.

Númenor is considered a mythic lost city of men in the world of Middle-earth, one established on an island in the Great Sea that had been destroyed for thousands of years by the time of Frodo and Aragorn. In The Second Age, according to Tolkien lore, it was said that the island was brought up from the ocean as a gift to men by the Valar (the gods of Middle-earth). The kingdom would later fall after they defy the laws of the deities.

The Second Age also sees the development of the Elven City of Rivendell, the Dark Lord Sauron famously forging the dark Ring of Power, and the races of elves, men, and dwarves all uniting to fight him for the first. The period spans about 3,441 years, so there’s a lot of ground to potentially cover.

JD Payne and Patrick McKay will serve as showrunners for this reportedly costly fantasy epic after their work on Star Trek 4 and Jungle Cruise. Casting is still under wraps for the moment.

New Zealand is poised for another Middle-earth-tied economic boost after Amazon Studios picked the country as the location for its much-anticipated Lord of the Rings television series.

The show is widely tipped to be the most expensive ever made, at a cost of at least $1bn (£801m).

The Amazon unit wants to tap the huge success of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, also shot in New Zealand.

The franchise delivered a boost to the country's tourism and jobs.

Amazon Studios, which bought the rights to the television series two years ago, said the new adaptation will explore fresh storylines preceding J.R.R. Tolkien's classic The Fellowship of the Ring.

In a statement on Tuesday, the firm said pre-production had started and shooting in Auckland would begin in the coming months.

"As we searched for the location in which we could bring to life the primordial beauty of the Second Age of Middle-earth, we knew we needed to find somewhere majestic, with pristine coasts, forests, and mountains," the firm said.

New Zealand's Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford said the project would create a range of benefits "including jobs and significant overseas investment".

Filmed in the early 2000s by Kiwi director Peter Jackson, the Lord of the Rings trilogy pulled in nearly $3bn at the box office and won a slew of Academy Awards.

Those films - along with The Hobbit trilogy - sparked a tourism boom in New Zealand.

They exposed the country's lush landscapes to the world and prompted millions of visitors to flock to the locations used.

The large-scale productions also transformed New Zealand's small film industry into a world leader, including in digital special effects.

The country has also welcomed Middle-earth as part of its cultural identity and giant models of dragons and wizards decorate Wellington airport.

CULVER CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep. 17, 2019-- (NASDAQ: AMZN)—Amazon Studios announced today that its series based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s iconic fantasy novels The Lord of the Rings will shoot in New Zealand. Pre-production has started, and production on the series will begin in Auckland in the coming months.

“As we searched for the location in which we could bring to life the primordial beauty of the Second Age of Middle-earth, we knew we needed to find somewhere majestic, with pristine coasts, forests, and mountains, that also is a home to world-class sets, studios, and highly skilled and experienced craftspeople and other staff. And we’re happy that we are now able to officially confirm New Zealand as our home for our series based on stories from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings,” said showrunners and executive producers J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay. “We are grateful to the people and the government of New Zealand and especially Auckland for supporting us during this pre-production phase. The abundant measure of Kiwi hospitality with which they have welcomed us has already made us feel right at home, and we are looking forward to deepening our partnership in the years to come.”

Set in Middle-earth, the television adaptation will explore new storylines preceding J.R.R. Tolkien’s TheFellowship of the Ring. A world-renowned literary work, and winner of the International Fantasy Award and Prometheus Hall of Fame Award, The Lord of the Rings novels were named Amazon customers’ favorite book of the millennium in 1999 and Britain’s best-loved novel of all time in BBC’s The Big Read in 2003. Its theatrical adaptations, from New Line Cinema and Director Peter Jackson, earned a combined gross of nearly $6 billion worldwide and garnered a combined 17 Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

The executive producers and showrunners for the series are J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay. J.A. Bayona (The Orphanage, Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom) will direct the first two episodes and also serve as executive producer, alongside his partner Belén Atienza. Executive Producers are Lindsey Weber (10 Cloverfield Lane), Bruce Richmond (Game of Thrones), Gene Kelly (Boardwalk Empire), Sharon Tal Yguado, Gennifer Hutchison (Breaking Bad), Jason Cahill (The Sopranos), and Justin Doble (Stranger Things).

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 reds8n wrote:
...



..Or perhaps we'll finally get an answer as to how/why the orcs are familiar with the concept of a "menu".

 Elbows wrote:

 reds8n wrote:
...



..Or perhaps we'll finally get an answer as to how/why the orcs are familiar with the concept of a "menu".

Could we also get some answers as to why Gimli knows what a "nervous system" is? Advanced Dwarf biology/medical studies? I despise flagrant bizarre writing errors like that which totally take me out of the scene/film/lore.