Rings of Power Amazon buys up Middle-earth, it searches the One Ring! (Rings of Power news thread)

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,257]

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.

[John 2,031]

This is really exciting. Perhaps a Silmarillion adaption? This could easily be the next Game of Thrones.

 

Also, if this is really happening, let's hope Shore is willing to return to the series. More Middle-earth music!

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,257]

Yeah I doubt it. Why would Amazon pay top dollar for Shore?

 

 

[gkgyver 1,644]

Why would they pay top dollar for anything Lord Of The Rings, when modern films exist that can't be topped in many eyes?

 

 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,257]

A LOTR tv show would gets viewers whether its scored by Shore or not.

[Bilbo 3,707]

Djawadi it is!

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,257]

Also, even if Amazon buys the TV rights to LOTR, The Hobbit etc...they wont own the right to Shore's themes.

 

 

[Quintus 5,396]

This would be a complete reimagining and entirely its own beast, they won't use any thing or anyone from the movie versions (assuming they're eyeing LotR).

[Bilbo 3,707]

I doubt Amazon will be buying the rights. 

 

They work with WB to produce a show but WB wouldn’t be selling that gold egg laying goose. Physical media sales of TLOTR and the Hobbit are still worth too much.

 

I see people talking about Silmarilion online but that’s just not going to happen.

 

I expect them to do something like Shadow of Mordor and have it tie in with the Middle-earth cinematic universe™

[BloodBoal 7,538]

3 minutes ago, Bilbo Skywalker said:

I expect them to do something like Shadow of Mordor and have it tie in with the Middle-earth cinematic universe™

 

And oh boy, god knows we need something like that...

[Bilbo 3,707]

3 minutes ago, BloodBoal said:

 

And oh boy, god knows we need something like that...

 

We have no say in it B.B. and well all watch it anyway 

[Quintus 5,396]

8 minutes ago, Bilbo Skywalker said:

we'll all watch it anyway 

 

May as well add this tag to the thread.

 

Quintus - already fearful of the endless circle jerk incoming, will probably end up ignoring the thread  

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Barnald 364]

Oh dear. I can't wait to see how 'progressively' they cast this one. Might even spice it up with a few additions here and there.

 

A potential lack of sex and violence will probably harm the chances of this being the 'next Game of Thrones'. Of course, there's probably nothing to stop them adding such things if they so wish...

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Barnald 364]

A cameo? I always felt the Fellowship needed a tenth member, a nice round number. Plus feminine energy!

 

 

[Arpy 4,099]

Why do they feel the need to remake it? 

 

Yeah, money, I know, but why not invest in new ideas?

[BloodBoal 7,538]

Because new ideas don't bring as much money?

[Arpy 4,099]

Oh, I guess it will mean a thousand more polls for JWFan:

 

'The Lord of the Rings Animated vs. The Lord of the Rings films vs. The Lord of the Rings Amazon series'

 

1 minute ago, BloodBoal said:

Because new ideas don't bring as much money?

Stranger Things? 

[Bilbo 3,707]

40 minutes ago, Arpy said:

Oh, I guess it will mean a thousand more polls for JWFan:

 

'The Lord of the Rings Animated vs. The Lord of the Rings films vs. The Lord of the Rings Amazon series'

 

Stranger Things? 

 

Whats new about Stranger Things?

[YoYoMama 48]

2 minutes ago, Bilbo Skywalker said:

 

Whats new about Stranger Things?

 

It mostly banks on nostalgia, which is fine, but I'd agree it's not a very new thing. It's an excellent homage to everything 20-30 year olds love. 

[Disco Stu 15,483]

When your first reaction to news like this about a hypothetical tv show with literally no details is to worry they’ll care too much about diversity... man.  

[YoYoMama 48]

1 minute ago, Disco Stu said:

When your first reaction to news like this about a hypothetical tv show with literally no details is to worry they’ll care too much about diversity... man.  

 

 

Interesting observation

[Arpy 4,099]

Stranger Things is definitely a homage to sci-fi action/adventure films of the eighties, but I'd still argue it's a new idea.

[Quintus 5,396]

I would be all for a more grown up TV adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones style. Minus the nudity and sexposition, of course. As much as I adore Jackson's phenomenal trilogy, they are tonally and visually far from my ideal of what a filmic LOTR would be.

[Nick1Ø66 3,856]

 

They should film this in Europe. And show fealty to the source material. They’ll do neither.

 

[Quintus 5,396]

1 minute ago, Nick1066 said:

the Tolkien subform is given at least a new ten year lease on life!

 

 

 

That's what scares me.

[Nick1Ø66 3,856]

1 minute ago, Quintus said:

 

That's what scares me.

 

Not frightened enough!

[Bilbo 3,707]

3 minutes ago, Quintus said:

 

That's what scares me.

 

You could just not go into it?

[Quintus 5,396]

There's an ancient evil which lays dormant in that subforum. A gkgyver of Morgoth.

[Bilbo 3,707]

8 minutes ago, Nick1066 said:

My first reaction on reading this was incredible excitement....I always thought they if they re-made LOTR it would work best as a series.  And I'm still excited, but it does raise some interesting questions. First and foremost would be the look and feel of it...which I'd hope would be a departure from the Jackson films (which I love), and more faithful to the tone and substance of the book.  And if the Tolkien estate is involved (and it looks like they will be), it will certainly be more faithful.

 

So along these lines, where would they film it? In some ways, NZ is still an obvious choice. It really does look like Middle-Earth (at least how I imagined it) and has every location you could want. And it's relatively inexpensive to film there vs. some of the other options.  The problem with this, of course, is that it would raise even more comparisons to Jackson's films, and probably couldn't avoid looking at least somewhat like them...especially if WETA did the effects (which would be logical if they filmed there).  That would create all different kinds interesting creative issues.  So hope they don't go this route, and don't believe they will.

 

The other, better, option would be to film in Europe.  England/Ireland/Scotland could provide a lot of locales, especially obviously for The Shire. And there are plenty of places in Scandinavia and Europe to choose from. This would certainly cost more than filming in NZ, but to me seems a better choice...especially since GOT has already done this to great success.

 

As far as the "diverse" casting someone mentioned...I imagine there will be a HUGE amount of social media pressure for them to do so, which I hope they resist, especially if they want to create something closer to the books. Bezos is reportedly a huge LOTR fan, and is taking special interest in this project, so hopefully his passion would lead to fealty to the source material.

 

Anyway, yeah, very exciting! I'll be watching this develop with great interest.  And the Tolkien subform is given at least a new ten year lease on life!

 

 

 

Id want any potential remake to be closer to Tolkien than Jackson's version. 

 

The LotR trilogy is a masterpiece and I'm very happy with it. If they're going to do a remake for TV then they should be trying to get closer to the book. The casting should be similar to the trilogy in order to do that. 

 

England, Scotland, Wales and the Republic (Probably no point going to NI after GoT) and Scandinavia would have all the locations needed I think. 

5 minutes ago, Quintus said:

There's an ancient evil which lays dormant in that subforum. A gkgyver of Morgoth.

 

I recommend the mute feature. There's a couple of people I've muted on here and it's vastly improved things! 

[Chen G. 3,346]

I don't know. I'm glad to know that the Estate is ready to play along, but I think Tolkien׳s vision is more inherently cinematic. It won't work as well on Television.

[Nick1Ø66 3,856]

14 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

I don't know. I'm glad to know that the Estate is ready to play along, but I think Tolkien vision is more inherently cinematic. It won't work as well on Television.

 

What are you talking about!!!???

 

 

[Holko 8,627]

Yeah, Tolkien is just made for TV!

 

 

[Barnald 364]

3 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

When your first reaction to news like this about a hypothetical tv show with literally no details is to worry they’ll care too much about diversity... man.  

 

Yawn. Indeed, in the absence of any details, it's about the only thing we know this production will bring to the plate at this point.

 

Let's say they do each book in 10 parts, 10 hours, 30 hours in total. There are two prominent female characters in LOTR, one of whom barely features beyond the latter part of book 1. Do you honestly think they'll preserve this status quo (and I'm not even talking about bumping up Arwen's role)? Similarly, a pretty much all-white production of this magnitude isn't happening. This represents a perfect chance to 'correct' the racial misgivings of Tolkien's vision. If I'm wrong I'll happily come back on here and eat humble pie, and apologize for my worthless existence.

 

 

I personally can't see this project getting off the ground.

 

[Quintus 5,396]

I'm personally really looking forward to a black trans Tom Bombadil in this, so I'm all for progressive casting, bring it on! 

[Holko 8,627]

Oh, that would be the least of the problems. Do you realize how racist the Black Riders are? Obviously they can only wear an all-white pointy hood to comment on certain factions really relevant in today's society. And Sauron can't be a flaming eye, he'll be a straight white male sitting atop his Ivory Tower strengthening the patriarchy and manspreading on his Dark Throne! If it's rated R, the (wet)dreams of all the Legolas+Gimli shippers can finally be realized, too!

[John 2,031]

Tom Bombadil could be the first gay LOTR character!

 

Just like in BOTFA, when the first trans character was introduced into the series.

 

 

The face of diversity!

[Wojo 2,450]

Unibrow wasn't trans. He was just wearing a disguise. I'm sure there's a difference. 

 

They could definitely sex up the Hobbits though. All those midgets with hairy feet are crying out to be violated. 

[Barnald 364]

But if Bombadil's gay, they'd have to eliminate a female character! Decisions, decisions.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Chen G. 3,346]

I think the Tolkien films get a free pass of sorts in terms of diversity because Tolkien's writings exercise diversity within the rules of its own universe: not in terms of Black/White/Asian/Female/None-Heterosexual diversity, but here in terms of Hobbits, Dwarves, Elves, etc....

[Bilbo 3,707]

11 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

I think the Tolkien films get a free pass of sorts in terms of diversity because Tolkien's writings exercise diversity within the rules of its own universe: not in terms of Black/White/Asian/Female/None-Heterosexual diversity, but here in terms of Hobbits, Dwarves, Elves, etc....

 

Yeah, no. 

 

Thats not how twitter works

[Nick1Ø66 3,856]

On 4/11/2017 at 5:06 PM, Chen G. said:

I think the Tolkien films get a free pass of sorts in terms of diversity because Tolkien's writings exercise diversity within the rules of its own universe: not in terms of Black/White/Asian/Female/None-Heterosexual diversity, but here in terms of Hobbits, Dwarves, Elves, etc....

 

Yeah, no.

 

Star Trek has always been diverse by the same rationale, yet Twitter was practically demanding that Discovery have at least one representative from every marginalised group. Same with Star Wars.  

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Bilbo 3,707]

Because Tolkien didn’t write them that way. 

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Bilbo 3,707]

🙄

[Barnald 364]

9 minutes ago, BloodBoal said:

Don't take it the wrong way, but you guys are disgustingly racist and homophobic.

 

That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me.

[Nick1Ø66 3,856]

13 minutes ago, BloodBoal said:

So? What's wrong with having a Black Frodo or a Chinese Legolas, or a gay Bombadil?

 

Don't take it the wrong way, but you guys are disgustingly racist and homophobic.

 

But they already have Lando Calrissian! And he got to fly the Millenium Falcon!

 

And Dumbledore!