I hopeThe Lord of the Ringsfranchise is not repeating a previous mistake withThe Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum. Andy Serkis, who played Gollum inThe Lord of the Ringsand inThe Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, will serve asThe Hunt for Gollum’s director, with Peter Jackson also attached as a producer.The movie is slated for a 2026 releaseand is expected to feature Serkis reprising the role of Gollum in a story that takes place before the events inThe Fellowship of the Ring.
Another familiar franchise actor already attached to the project is Ian McKellen, who played Gandalf in each ofThe Lord of the RingsandHobbitmovies. McKellen shared that he had been approached to play the beloved wizard again and later mentioned that he was toldThe Hunt for Gollumwill be two movies. This development has not yet been officially confirmed, but if it proves to be true, it will follow in the footsteps of a previous misstep for the fantasy franchise.
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It Sounds Like The Hunt For Gollum Could Repeat A Lord Of The Rings Franchise Mistake
The Hobbit Shouldn’t Have Been A Trilogy
IfThe Hunt for Gollumis split into two movies, I fear that it will make the same mistake asThe Hobbitmovies, which took the approximately 300-page source material and needlessly overextended it into a trilogy. Each of the trilogy’s installments was a financial success, and I enjoyed various aspects of each movie, butthey were ultimately not an effective adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s source material. This was especially glaring inThe Battle of the Five Armies, which mostly focused on a battle that is only a brief part of the book.
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The Hobbitis supposed to be the story of Bilbo Baggins, but Bilbo misses much of the battle due to being temporarily knocked unconscious. Martin Freeman did a fantastic job portraying Bilbo, but the movie trilogy lost sight of his arc as it progressed and focused more on massive battle sequences and on characters and storylines that were not in the book, including Thorin’s conflict with Azog the Defiler and the inclusion of Legolas.The Hobbitonly needed to be two movies at most, whileThe Hunt for Gollumonly needs to be one movie.
Splitting The Hunt For Gollum Into Two Movies Doesn’t Make Sense
It Lacks The Source Material Needed To Be Two Movies
WhileThe Hobbittrilogy had a full novel to adapt,The Hunt for Gollumhas far less to draw from, as there is no existing source materialfully dedicated to this story. There are only references throughout Tolkien’s works, including Aragorn telling the Council of Rivendell inThe Fellowship of the Ringthat there was"little need to tell of"what happened while hunting for Gollum. The Battle of the Five Armies did not need to be its own movie, but at least there was enough information inThe Hobbitto expand upon the titular conflict.
Even the franchise’s upcoming standalone anime movie,War of the Rohirrim, seems like it has a bigger story to tell thanThe Hunt for Gollumdoes, which makes the latter’s two-movie potential even more questionable.
The Hunt for Gollumis based on limited information from Tolkien’s writings, which may make its connections toThe Lord of the Ringsfeel too tenuous. This makes me concerned that there may not be enough to warrant one movie, and splitting the story into two movies only makes the issue worse. Even the franchise’s upcoming standalone anime movie,War of the Rohirrim, seems like it has a bigger story to tell thanThe Hunt for Gollumdoes, which makes the latter’s two-movie potential even more questionable.
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The Hunt For Gollum Shouldn’t Be Two Movies
SinceThe Hunt for Gollumstill seems to be in relatively early stages, I am hoping that it will not actually end up being two movies. I was already concerned that the movie was being made not because it had a compelling story to tell, but because of Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav wanting to further capitalize on the popular intellectual properties owned by his company. Taking a dubious premise and potentially already committing to it being two movies does nothing to alleviate those concerns.
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The Lord of the Ringsis one of the most commercially and critically successful trilogies of all time, but this does not mean that every live-action Middle-earth project needs to be turned into multiple movies. One does not need to be intimately familiar withLord of the Rings’loreto know that there isonly so much that can happen with Gollum and the One Ring prior toFellowship, another sign that multiple installments are not needed. All of these factors leave me hopingThe Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollumwill only be one movie instead of two.
The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum
Cast
The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum is an upcoming fantasy adventure film that delves into the story of Gollum’s obsession with the One Ring.
