The Hobbit Trilogy 2012-2014

[Saurons_puppet]

If Sillmarilion should be made i think it will be like the Hobbit 2-like a ramp into The hobbit,like the hobbit in LOTR.

[A1_Unit]

Ever seen 3:10 to Yuma? If the character he plays in that movie isn't stern I don't know what is.

OMG, you want someone who acted in that disaster to make a LOTR film?!?!?!

Any Hollywood "Stars" will be too egotistical for any of the roles here. They will over-act and think they are doing a great job.

[Finlander]

All we can do is to hope that they will make a good movie!

[underxground]

I love the silmarillion but every non lore fan that I try to explain it to practically falls asleep in the first few minutes. These movies need to heavily appeal to the movie going public, not just us Tolkienites. So that movie(s) would be an epic disaster and lose all credibility for Ring movies. Half of the book would be left out just to get to the action parts.( Alot of people I know almost bled from the eyes sitting through Return of the King so imagine the story of the silmarils) But Im a book fan and much less a fan of the movies (how dare you leave out the Bombadil!!) so it doesnt really matter to me. I read it, I own it, I have an imagination, so anytime I want to read the stories I have my own little adventure. I dont need some director to dictate to me what the stories are.

So what im trying to say is .... The stories belong to all of us and all of us have different ideas of what they are like. Be happy with your own version and dont worry about Guillermos version. If its good (hes a great director) then hooray, if its bad .. then so what.

[Jools_Jops]

These movies need to heavily appeal to the movie going public, not just us Tolkienites.

and thats the real clincher.

when you make a movie adaptation you can never please everyone because there are always diehards who will pick apart the bits the film has ignored/glossed-over/altered.

i only read the lotr trilogy after seeing the first lotr film when it came out. i just wanted to find out what happens next. id already read the hobbit like half a decade previously but never thought about reading the trilogy until i saw the first movie. and i thought the movies were a good homage to the text.

if id read the books first however im sure i would have found lots to complain about.

but yeah basically i hope they strike a fine balance between:

A - getting the basic feel and atmosphere of the novel
B - making an enjoyable movie that doesnt get too bogged down in needless detail


a good example of a book to movie that went bad was Dune.

arguably a brilliant novel (if you like sci-fi and you ignore the sequels where frank herbert went insane) but the movie adaptation did badly because the fans of the Dune novel were all like "ey man, whats all dis [bleep] u chattin?" and the movie going public who never read the book were all like "what in the hell is going on????".

also it came out after star wars and was hyped as "the next star wars". not a smart move in hindsight.

anyways i forget my original point in this post because im typing too much. so yeah, stay off drugs and stay in school.

Vote Left.

[René Artois]

Yes,but i mean other characters,like Balin,Thorin,Smaug's voice,Thranduil,beorn....etc!

For Beorn the guy who played Hagrid in Harry Potter!

[Elfhelm]

I disagree that the Silmarallion wouldn't make a good film,it would make at least six good films! Much of what happens in it is more dramatic and epic and it would lend itself well to film iff it were tackled properlly.Oh ye of little faith,of course The Hobbit films will be great! Great enough and succesful enough to warrant the making of The Tale of Turin And Of Beren & Luthien at any rate C:

[Jean=A=Luc]

I disagree that the Silmarallion wouldn't make a good film,it would make at least six good films!

Well of course Silmarilion is "epic". It's not the lack of high fantasy elements that would make for a bad movie. Simply putting in huge armies and "epix" isn't enough.

To me the Silmarilion is what I'd call a semi-obscure virginal area of Tolkien's literature. It contains emotional, physical and dramatic extremes that are best suited for one's imagination.

There is no actor high and proud enough to play Feanor, no man noble, brave or crushed enough to play Fingolfin nor a woman beautiful enough to represent Luthien.

I would prefer for Hollywood (or anyone else) not to cheapen my impressions of the Silmarilion by creating a "movie standard" of it. By "movie standard" I mean that once it's filmed and watched everyone would call upon images from the movie and use them to create an almost uniform impression of the Silmarilion.

Look how in the 1.2 preview some people were saying how Legolas doesn't look like Legolas or how Frodo doesn't resemble himself. Of course they meant that they don't look like the movie characters, already the movie set a "standard" for what the Fellowship characters are supposed to look like as if the movie makers had some sort of "official" claim on their appearance.

This doesn't just go for the characters, it goes for pretty much everything and I wouldn't want it to happen to the Silmarilion.

I know most (if not everyone) will disagree but, for me, Hollywood "epics" pretty much fail to carry through the greatness of their originals.

King Arthur (the 2004 movie), Narnia, Eragon, Troy, The Golden Compass, none of them hold any appeal to me, they're just so annoying to watch, so tacky and shallow.

LoTR was a great effort though but so tragically ruined at the end (army of the dead + overemphasis on Rohan in RoTK) to the point it's unwatchable for me (and I have all three extended versions).

Of course you'll say "so don't watch the movie". Well it's not so simple. For one I'd be tempted to see what they did with it and would constantly be presented with a dillema. Even if I choose not to see it, it would eventually find it's way to me. People would be talking online, there'd be screenshots, clips, video games, merchandise, there would be no escaping.

Then would come the hordes of new generation nerds who'd been suckling on WoW and DoTA. They'd be talking about how "awesome that battle was" or how "badass the elves'/dwarves' armour was" and very quickly the Silmarilion would become reduced to a few battles, cool monsters/effects and hot babes, it's essence and beauty lost except to the few with the mental capacity and curiosity to delve deeper.

And that's why I wouldn't like to see The Silmarilion filmed. However I'll "swallow" The Hobbit. Of course these are all pretty personal reasons, I don't claim them to be "objective" truths.

[underxground]

Then would come the hordes of new generation nerds who'd been suckling on WoW and DoTA. They'd be talking about how "awesome that battle was" or how "badass the elves'/dwarves' armour was" and very quickly the Silmarilion would become reduced to a few battles, cool monsters/effects and hot babes, it's essence and beauty lost except to the few with the mental capacity and curiosity to delve deeper.

And that's why I wouldn't like to see The Silmarilion filmed. However I'll "swallow" The Hobbit. Of course these are all pretty personal reasons, I don't claim for them to be "objective" truths.

Score. You have summed it up there. I hate new ringer nerds. I get yelled at for being an elitist by my friends... but I dont care. If you havent read the books .. then how can you be a fan? If the movies brought you to the books ... then thats awesome and Im glad. But if you dont like the books .. wtf.
I remember when the second movie came out and people were like "omg whats going to happen to frodo .. is he dead?" So I told them and they were like "how do you know?" I of course got mad and yelled ... its been a book series for seventy years you morons.

Harumph. There is no escaping Time Warner when they want you to know about their movies. So you cant just ignore them. I will see them, because the hobbit has been my favorite book since I was seven or eight, and Im a fan of Del Toro.

[maxi90]

Of course you'll say "so don't watch the movie". Well it's not so simple. For one I'd be tempted to see what they did with it and would constantly be presented with a dillema. Even if I choose not to see it, it would eventually find it's way to me. People would be talking online, there'd be screenshots, clips, video games, merchandise, there would be no escaping.

Then would come the hordes of new generation nerds who'd been suckling on WoW and DoTA. They'd be talking about how "awesome that battle was" or how "badass the elves'/dwarves' armour was" and very quickly the Silmarilion would become reduced to a few battles, cool monsters/effects and hot babes, it's essence and beauty lost except to the few with the mental capacity and curiosity to delve deeper.

And that's why I wouldn't like to see The Silmarilion filmed. However I'll "swallow" The Hobbit. Of course these are all pretty personal reasons, I don't claim them to be "objective" truths.

nicely said JAL. unfortunately, i am pretty sure they are going to do it sooner or later. i mean all they have to do is to put the words "from the creators of The Lord of the Rings" in the trailer, and that´s it. every single guy around the world who liked the trilogy (and that is pretty much everyone who have ever seen it) will buy their tickets for the premier. you know how bad Hollywood likes easy hits

[Louis Lux]

King Arthur (the 2004 movie), Narnia, Eragon, Troy, The Golden Compass, none of them hold any appeal to me, they're just so annoying to watch, so tacky and shallow.

Ouch, those are some harsh examples. I agree with basically everything you said, but there are also some great fantasy movies and I don't think we should restrict a whole genre because of some really bad movies and some poorly handled aspects of lotr. I'm a big fan of animation and movies and I'm open to translating something good to another media, is rarely perfect but it results in some interesting stuff. However it is my opinion that Silmarillion would be really hard to make into a movie for it shear volume and complexity, but certain parts could be made if a very good script is produced.

[Jean=A=Luc]

Of course, fantasy movies/"cartoons" shouldn't be stomped on and they should be made but something like Silmarilion is where I'd draw the line. As I said I have no valid "objective reasons", if they can make LoTR no reason why they wouldn't be able to make a stunning (in terms of visuals) Silmarilion-based movie. It's just that I don't want it to become "pop-culturized".

I'm kind of a grump I know, maybe I'm just getting too old. But I'm only 24.

[underxground]

Ouch, those are some harsh examples. I agree with basically everything you said, but there are also some great fantasy movies and I don't think we should restrict a whole genre because of some really bad movies and some poorly handled aspects of lotr. I'm a big fan of animation and movies and I'm open to translating something good to another media, is rarely perfect but it results in some interesting stuff. However it is my opinion that Silmarillion would be really hard to make into a movie for it shear volume and complexity, but certain parts could be made if a very good script is produced.

Honestly, Im a fan of the cartoon LOTR. They were from the seventies or eighties and did a good job. Havent seen them in a while but from what I remember they were pretty cool.
I wouldnt mind seeing Tolkiens work handled again in that medium. Something like Fire and Ice or Wizards. (If anyone hasnt seen those movies and is over eighteen run to netflix please)
Hand animation is a great medium for handling epic adventure. Hell even Disney did well with their scarred up version of The Black Cauldron. To the few remaining hand animators left in the world... make us a great animated adventure. Please. And yes Leonard Nimoy ... you can sing the songs. You know you still got it.

[wyvernslayer]

well they could not make a silmarrillion movie, but maybe they could do a fall of gondolin movie, that would be amazing, noldor and vanyar killing thousands of orcs by themselves and balrogs being killed one on one by elves, then the last stand at the river where the last human general is captured after being buried in a pile of orcs he killed. No litterally this guy killed so many orcs that he got stuck in their bodies and was captured by morgoth. talk about epic.

[maxi90]

well they could not make a silmarrillion movie, but maybe they could do a fall of gondolin movie, that would be amazing, noldor and vanyar killing thousands of orcs by themselves and balrogs being killed one on one by elves, then the last stand at the river where the last human general is captured after being buried in a pile of orcs he killed. No litterally this guy killed so many orcs that he got stuck in their bodies and was captured by morgoth. talk about epic.

the guy you are thinking of is Hurin, father of Turin. and actually he did killed all those orcs and trolls by himself. he used an axe that he took from an orc general and every time he striked he screamed "Aure Entuvala" (the day shall come again, or something like it), and he said that 70 times before he was captured.. talk about epic.
but you are mixing two diferent moments of the silmarilion here, be cause Hurin´s last stand happened during the Ninraeth Arnoediad (the battle of the innumerable tears). the fall of Gondolin hapened many years after.

[Cyclops]

Jean A Luc is on the money, the tale of the Hobbit lives and dies by its dragon. He is a vain, powerful and not unsophisticated creature. Somewhere between Jeremy iron's bad Lion King and Alan Rickman's Hans in Die Hard, but with more balls. Please no Ricky Gervais, not anywhere.

As for the authenticity aspect, GDT is talking at the moment, thats all. He may deliver a decent film, and it hopefully will be Hobbit flavoured enough not to make me sick.

PJ did a fabulous job overall but there are enough deviations to make the film a mixed pleasure.

Film is a different medium to literature, it cannot tell the same story, so I don't expect that it will. However there's adapting and there's dishonouring.

I want the narrative arc kept intact but stuff will have to go, I realise this: if the eagles drop the party straight at Beorn's house (leaving out breakfast at the eyrie) I will not sweat it. Maybe we will miss the animal servants setting the table at Beorns, or some of the songs (prolly all of the songs).

If GDT fgives in to meddling temptation eg Indiana Jones traps in the Lonely Mountain or dwarf repeating crossbows at BotFA I will be "not happy, Jan" as we say in Oz.

If the second film is a middle-qul (a mixture of a prequel and a sequel) then highlights could include the adventures of Thorongil, the hunt for Gollum, and the wooing of Arwen (so it could be Aragorn-centric) as well as the assault on Dol Guldur. How will that play? The Necromancer is driven away by the arts of the White Council, advised by Gandalf but starring Saruman. Will it be Aragorn leading a team of crack suicide Uruks? I mean obviously not uruks obviously, but its interesting to speculate what powers will be on display.

...And yes Leonard Nimoy ... you can sing the songs. You know you still got it. ...

MY EYES! MY EYES!

[Beorn]

Well of course Silmarilion is "epic". It's not the lack of high fantasy elements that would make for a bad movie. Simply putting in huge armies and "epix" isn't enough.

To me the Silmarilion is what I'd call a semi-obscure virginal area of Tolkien's literature. It contains emotional, physical and dramatic extremes that are best suited for one's imagination.

There is no actor high and proud enough to play Feanor, no man noble, brave or crushed enough to play Fingolfin nor a woman beautiful enough to represent Luthien.

I would prefer for Hollywood (or anyone else) not to cheapen my impressions of the Silmarilion by creating a "movie standard" of it. By "movie standard" I mean that once it's filmed and watched everyone would call upon images from the movie and use them to create an almost uniform impression of the Silmarilion.

Look how in the 1.2 preview some people were saying how Legolas doesn't look like Legolas or how Frodo doesn't resemble himself. Of course they meant that they don't look like the movie characters, already the movie set a "standard" for what the Fellowship characters are supposed to look like as if the movie makers had some sort of "official" claim on their appearance.

This doesn't just go for the characters, it goes for pretty much everything and I wouldn't want it to happen to the Silmarilion.

I know most (if not everyone) will disagree but, for me, Hollywood "epics" pretty much fail to carry through the greatness of their originals.

King Arthur (the 2004 movie), Narnia, Eragon, Troy, The Golden Compass, none of them hold any appeal to me, they're just so annoying to watch, so tacky and shallow.

LoTR was a great effort though but so tragically ruined at the end (army of the dead + overemphasis on Rohan in RoTK) to the point it's unwatchable for me (and I have all three extended versions).

Of course you'll say "so don't watch the movie". Well it's not so simple. For one I'd be tempted to see what they did with it and would constantly be presented with a dillema. Even if I choose not to see it, it would eventually find it's way to me. People would be talking online, there'd be screenshots, clips, video games, merchandise, there would be no escaping.

Then would come the hordes of new generation nerds who'd been suckling on WoW and DoTA. They'd be talking about how "awesome that battle was" or how "badass the elves'/dwarves' armour was" and very quickly the Silmarilion would become reduced to a few battles, cool monsters/effects and hot babes, it's essence and beauty lost except to the few with the mental capacity and curiosity to delve deeper.

And that's why I wouldn't like to see The Silmarilion filmed. However I'll "swallow" The Hobbit. Of course these are all pretty personal reasons, I don't claim them to be "objective" truths.

U speak from the deeps of my heart

And yes Leonard Nimoy ... you can sing the songs. You know you still got it.

edit: No Hungrid for BeornNo Hungrid for BeornNo Hungrid for Beorn No Hungrid for Beorn No Hungrid for Beorn No Hungrid for Beorn No Hungrid for Beorn No Hungrid for Beorn No Hungrid for Beorn No Hungrid for Beorn No Hungrid for Beorn No Hungrid for Beorn No Hungrid for Beorn No Hungrid for Beorn No Hungrid for Beorn No Hungrid for Beorn No Hungrid for Beorn No Hungrid for Beorn No Hungrid for Beorn No Hungrid for Beorn No Hungrid for Beorn No Hungrid for Beorn
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[Warmaster Tibs]

edit: No Hungrid for BeornNo Hungrid for BeornNo Hungrid for Beorn No Hungrid for Beorn No Hungrid for Beorn No Hungrid for Beorn No Hungrid for Beorn No Hungrid for Beorn No Hungrid for Beorn No Hungrid for Beorn No Hungrid for Beorn No Hungrid for Beorn No Hungrid for Beorn No Hungrid for Beorn No Hungrid for Beorn No Hungrid for Beorn No Hungrid for Beorn No Hungrid for Beorn No Hungrid for Beorn No Hungrid for Beorn No Hungrid for Beorn No Hungrid for Beorn
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

So...your saying No Hungrid for Beorn?

[Beorn]

So...your saying No Hungrid for Beorn?

U're genius

[Warmaster Tibs]

U're genius

YOU DIDENT SEE ANYTHING.