Tolkien Family In Talks To Sell LOTR TV Rights

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Harper
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Tolkien Family In Talks To Sell LOTR TV Rights

Post by Harper »

Did you guys see this?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... mazon.html

I hope that the Silmarillion is included. I always thought it would be perfect for an episodic series like GoT.
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Re: Tolkien Family In Talks To Sell LOTR TV Rights

Post by Iodo »

WOW! Possibility on a middle earth TV sieries. Now that would be COOL :mrgreen:
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Re: Tolkien Family In Talks To Sell LOTR TV Rights

Post by Greg »

No offense, but I want this whole thing to fall through. Public eye generally liked The Hobbit, which leaves room for Middle-earth's visual appeal to further devolve into worse and worse adaptations.
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Re: Tolkien Family In Talks To Sell LOTR TV Rights

Post by Elleth »

Honestly, I'm with Greg.

Tolkien was fundamentally a 19th century man - a 19th century rural Englishman even - who was dragged through hell. He believed in true transcendental good, in honor, in true nobility of spirit, and the simple goodness of a simple people in their own land. He saw more than enough desperation and pain in his own life, and had no need to wallow in the muck.

Tolkien was a beacon, not a peep show.

I have less than no confidence that the film producing culture of today can produce anything that does anything but defile his work.
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Re: Tolkien Family In Talks To Sell LOTR TV Rights

Post by Kortoso »

I see no problem with a Tolkien biopic. That's primarily what the article was discussing.

The spectre of a Hobbit slot machine would be a novel find, but I'm glad that the principals nixed that idea.

Re-making any of the LOTR for TV would, I think, be misguided.
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Re: Tolkien Family In Talks To Sell LOTR TV Rights

Post by Elleth »

I've not read that article, but I've seen rumblings of several things in discussion - two different JRRT biopics and a LOTR series "like Game of Thrones."

It's that last that bothers me.

edit - the article mentions both:
...the Tolkien Estate and Warner Bros are quoting up to £189 million for the rights to the Lord of the Rings with an aim to turn it into a series.
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Re: Tolkien Family In Talks To Sell LOTR TV Rights

Post by Greg »

Did Christopher Tolkien die and no one noticed or something?
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Re: Tolkien Family In Talks To Sell LOTR TV Rights

Post by Straelbora »

Some legal background:

Fearing onerous death taxes that were in place in the UK in the late '60s, Tolkien sold the film rights to "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" (including appendices) to United Artists, the studio created by a bunch of actors who got sick of being screwed over by studios.

When the film rights were sold, both projects were thought to be unfilmable, except as animation. Tolkien notoriously disliked Disney's work and in part may have sold the rights to UA in order to make sure that Disney never got a hold of his stories. Tolkien had even been approached to sell the rights so that Stanley Kubrick could make a "Lord of the Rings" starring the Beatles!

UA toyed with some live action films, but could never get a project put together. Saul Zaentz, a film and music producer with a sketchy relationship to the artists he produced, bought the rights from UA in 1976 and put them into play, working with long-established Rankin-Bass productions for 1977's animated "The Hobbit" and with animator Ralph Bakshi, resulting in the 1978 animated "Lord of the Rings." Zaentz also started to monetize Tolkien's work, licensing toys, role playing games, etc.

Funding ran out during Bakshi's production. He was known for roto-scoping, that is, filming actors and then using the film cells to trace animation, in order to get realistic movement. Because the money ran out, parts of his "LotR" are animation against painted backdrops, and others colorized film footage of, say, guys in gorilla masks as Orcs. Bakshi's project was supposed to be a 2 film project- his film ends at the Battle of Helm's Deep. Bakshi's incomplete film wasn't a box office success, to Zaentz went back to Rankin-Bass to make a film to complete Bakshi's project, resulting in 1980's straight to TV "Return of the King."

While Zaentz was making cartoons from the film rights, since J. R. R. Tolkien's death in 1973, his son Christopher was editing his father's copious notes. Although said to be a posthumous publication, 1977's "The Silmarillion" (same year as the animated Hobbit), is, in fact, copyrighted to Christopher Tolkien, and not J. R. R. Tolkien's estate.

I would love to review the original sale of film rights contract between Tolkien and United Artists. I believe it has similar language to that of the Edgar Rice Burroughs' estate's "Tarzan" materials, in that, although the estate can't say who can produce what films, they are allowed to 'protect the integrity' of the intellectual material (for example, killing a pornographic version of a "Tarzan" film). The Tolkien estate fought and lost the licensing of video games. They did win, however, on stopping Zaentz from licensing gambling machines with "Hobbit" themes, as that sullies the overall reputation of the property.

Christopher Tolkien did not like the film versions that Zaentz produced with Peter Jackson. One of his greatest fears has already come true: that the imagery of the film has supplanted his father's work. For example, how many of us default to Weta's 'ethnic' design for all things Elvish, Dwarven, Rohirrim, etc. Christopher Tolkien, and NOT the J. R. R. Tolkien estate, holds the copyright for "The Silmarillion" and all other books that he edited based upon his father's notes. Christopher Tolkien has repeated stated that none of his works will ever have the film rights sold, and that whomever takes over as trustee of his estate must abide by his wishes that the film rights are never to be sold.

A lot of people get this mixed up: "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" are under the control of the J. R. R. Tolkien estate, and the film rights were sold decades ago. The estate still negotiates it's amount of money to receive from licensing deals that Saul Zaentz, and later, his heirs at Middle-earth Enterprises, make, as well as some veto control if the licensing deal were to besmirch the intellectual property.

"The Silmarillion," "The Children of Hurin," etc. are all copyrighted to Christopher Tolkien, who is adamant that no film rights shall ever be sold relating to those books, even after his death.
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Re: Tolkien Family In Talks To Sell LOTR TV Rights

Post by Iodo »

Fascinating, so it looks like we will likely never see a Silmarillion move or TV show.
Straelbora wrote:how many of us default to Weta's 'ethnic' design for all things Elvish, Dwarven, Rohirrim, etc.
Sadly I will probably always be guilty of this
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Re: Tolkien Family In Talks To Sell LOTR TV Rights

Post by Greg »

Iodo wrote:Fascinating, so it looks like we will likely never see a Silmarillion move or TV show.
Thank heavens.
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Re: Tolkien Family In Talks To Sell LOTR TV Rights

Post by Kortoso »

Not so fast, mate.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/am ... 7ffcdf83bc
Amazon announced Monday that it has acquired global television rights to J.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved fantasy novels, committing to a multi-season run of at least one show with potential additional spinoffs.

The series won’t be a straight adaptation of the books. Amazon said in a release that it plans to “explore new storylines preceding J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring.”
I feel vaguely ill....
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Re: Tolkien Family In Talks To Sell LOTR TV Rights

Post by Harper »

Kortoso wrote:Not so fast, mate.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/am ... 7ffcdf83bc
Amazon announced Monday that it has acquired global television rights to J.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved fantasy novels, committing to a multi-season run of at least one show with potential additional spinoffs.

The series won’t be a straight adaptation of the books. Amazon said in a release that it plans to “explore new storylines preceding J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring.”
I feel vaguely ill....
I just read that myself.

I don't like Bezos' playing politics. I'm not a fan of monopolies.

However, Amazon certainly has deep pockets. Hopefully, they'll want to make this series their crown jewel and do it right.

Here is a quote:
“Amazon Prime heads to Middle Earth,” Chief Executive Jeff Bezos said in a Twitter post.

Although “The Lord of the Rings” is the most famous work to emerge from Tolkien’s pen, he wrote much else, including prequel “The Hobbit” - also made into a movie trilogy by Jackson - and the denser “The Silmarillion”. The Amazon series will delve into some of Tolkien’s work that the movies did not explore.

“Amazon is committed to producing super high quality, recognized, branded entertainment,” said Wedbush Securities industry analyst Michael Pachter. “That’s a departure from shows like ”Transparent“ and ”Catastrophe.“”

“By definition this will be expensive,” he added.
Ranger action?

It's not clear if the Silmarillion or some of the other works edited by Christopher Tolkien were included in the sale.

The family must have got a ton of money. I'm glad about that.
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Re: Tolkien Family In Talks To Sell LOTR TV Rights

Post by Straelbora »

From what I've read, it's still all based upon the original film rights sale: "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings." It will take place in the years after the death of Smaug and Bilbo's 111th birthday. Lot of great stuff, including the retaking and loss of Moria, the hunt for Gollum. My fear is that it will center around an oh-so-dreamy, brooding teen named Aragorn and his tempestuous relationship with his guardian, Elrond.
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Re: Tolkien Family In Talks To Sell LOTR TV Rights

Post by Elleth »

Don't forget the Sassy Empowered Ninja Elfmaid, the Wise Southron That Totally Would Have Been There, and a dwarf or two for comic relief.

:(
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Re: Tolkien Family In Talks To Sell LOTR TV Rights

Post by robinhoodsghost »

I will reserve my opinion until after I have watched it...you never know, it could be good.
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