New ‘Lord of the Rings’ movie focused on Gollum with Andy Serkis directing coming in 2026
It looks like Warner Bros. Discovery is going back for second breakfast.
Variety reported that fast work is underway for a new “Lord of the Rings” film, with Warner Bros. hoping to get it into theaters within two years. The project will focus on the character of Gollum/Smeagol and comes from director Andy Serkis, the actor who played the character in the early films.
Script development for the film, tentatively titled “The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum,” is underway, according to CEO David Zaslav, who spoke about the new project during the WBD earning call. Moreover, the originators of the Oscar-winning trilogy (and highly profitable “Hobbit” prequel trilogy) director Peter Jackson and co-writers Fran Walsh and Phillipa Boyens “will be involved every step of the way.”
Amazon famously bought the rights to all things Middle Earth in late 2017 directly from the Tolkien estate for $250 million. This gave them the rights to all the additional books of “LOTR” lore (from where their “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” show is primarily derived) and also the right to “use material” from the more classic works which are found in the films for TV adaptation only. But it also means every story idea crammed into the textbook-like “Silmarillion” is Amazon’s.
Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy won 17 Oscars with 19 additional nominations. This included, for part three (“The Return of the King”), wins for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. Howard Shore won twice for his Original Score. The three “Hobbit” films, originally meant for Guillermo Del Toro to direct until a labor dispute threw the schedule out of whack and forced writer-producer Jackson back into the director’s chair, was nominated for seven Oscars. It was also far less beloved by critics but did score a Smaug-worthy amount of gold in ticket sales.
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