It seems fans have finally had enough with nostalgic sequels of beloved films as Warner Bros get roasted for new Lord Of The Rings film.
For some reason, ‘little freak’ Gollum is getting his own movie — a controversial choice considering how badly the game based on the character did last year.
Even the Hobbit series was much less loved than the original, despite a stellar cast and Ian McKellen returning as Gandalf.
Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum will be produced by Peter Jackson, with original actor Andy Serkis returning to the titular role.
The announcement comes after Warner Bros revealed last year they had secured a deal to create multiple movies based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy world.
In a meeting about the company prospects, CEO David Zaslav reportedly revealed that they were ‘now in the early stages of script development’ for a new batch offilms.
The films will ‘explore storylines yet to be told,’ according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Despite the esteemed actor and director being attached to the film, fans are screaming at the studio to scrap the project — especially as a fan-made film of the same name was removed from YouTube.
‘I’m begging Hollywood to stop,’ wrote Annie Delavoye on X as Chris Tilley joked: ‘Only interested if [Serkis] directs in character.’
‘I know we love Gollum but why would I want to look at that thing for longer than his brief scenes in the original movies,’ added Paul.
User bigbeandotgov shared: ‘Why are the Lord of the Rings suddenly obsessed with Gollum.
‘He had a point in the narrative he existed inside of? You can’t do “the iconic Gollum character returns”, it’s just going to be a little freak scuttling around for two hours.’
The hate the as yet unmade film is getting is not blind rage though, with many voicing complaints at a wider trend within cinema at the moment.
‘At some point I feel like we’re going to need to address the fact that so much of mass culture is now just the detritus of yesteryear, endlessly recycled by a handful of monopolies that own basically everything,’ shared Luke Savage.
Danny added: ‘The cinematic craftsmanship of Jackson’s LotR trilogy was of a calibre that cinema will likely never again see. The stars aligned.
‘I’m so tired of watching IPs being exhausted and exhumed, chasing unobtainable projected profits, whilst new stories and ideas are dead on arrival.’
For Lord of the Rings fans this feels almost more insulting, given Tolkien’s dedicated world building with a vast library of lore to dive into.
‘Tolkien spent his life crafting an intricately detailed world with full genealogies and language families only for hollywood to look at it and go “gollum cinematic universe”,’ shared Theo Bromic.
User Magicantean added: ‘This is why Christopher Tolkien had a final say on his father’s work btw. Like, literally the exact reason. It is not lost on me that the rights were sold off before his body was cold.’
JRR Tolkien’s son died in 2020, aged 95, and had been the keeper of his father’s Middle Earth story rights plus editor of any posthumously published works.
In a statement shared, studio leaders Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy said: ‘For over two decades, moviegoers have embraced the Lord of the Rings film trilogy because of the undeniable devotion Peter, Fran and Philippa have shown towards protecting the legacy of Tolkien’s works, and to ensure audiences could experience the incredible world he created in a way that honours his literary vision.
‘We are honoured they have agreed be our partners on these two new films. With Andy coming aboard to direct Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, we continue an important commitment to excellence that is a true hallmark of how we all want to venture ahead and further contribute to the Lord of the Rings cinematic history.’
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