Peter Jackson and the co-authors of The Lord of the Rings, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens, respond to Warner Bros.'s proposal to produce additional movies based on Middle-earth.
In response to Warner Bros.' news that they are moving forward with new Lord of the Rings movies, director Peter Jackson and his fellow co-writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens have released statements. David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, recently disclosed that Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema have signed an agreement with the current rights holders to create additional motion pictures set in J.R.R. Tolkien's vast fantasy universe. This most recent statement coincides with the production of The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, an animated movie to be released by New Line in 2024.
Jackson and his fellow co-writers for The Lord of the Rings have now chatted with Deadline to share their opinions on the most recent revelation. The Oscar-winning group doesn't appear to be surprised by this information. They were upbeat about the future of the franchise despite not saying whether they will have a direct role in the upcoming movies.
The Fellowship of the Ring.
— Netflix (@netflix) February 8, 2023
The Two Towers.
The Return of the King.
Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy is now on Netflix. pic.twitter.com/2UkVUTkOjH
New #LordOfTheRings films are officially in the works.
— zavvi (@zavvi) February 24, 2023
And Peter Jackson might once again be involved.
Read here
>> https://t.co/MriZWg79Bs pic.twitter.com/PEbhQ7pCVo
New #LordOfTheRings films are in the works at Warner Bros and New Line!
— Agents of Fandom (@AgentsFandom) February 23, 2023
These new films will expand on the lore in J.R.R. Tolkien's universe, and not be a retread of what Peter Jackson already worked on.
via: https://t.co/Eo9G5YSRpR pic.twitter.com/O7erb8U3hS
Why Peter Jackson Should Participate Again in Upcoming Lord of the Rings Films
When they released the Academy Award-winning Fellowship of the Ring in 2001, Jackson, Walsh, and Boyens disproved the notion that The Lord of the Rings was too complex to ever receive a commendable adaptation. Jackson's vast trilogy, which was filmed concurrently with The Two Towers and Return of the King: The Lord of the Rings, would go on to win enormous praise and bring a completely new audience to Tolkien's iconic fantasy novels.
There is no surprise as to why Warner Bros. has kept Jackson and his writing team informed of their plans to return to Middle-earth given this kind of prior success. It is comforting to know that the trio is being contacted, even though their remarks do not necessarily imply that they are personally participating in the upcoming Lord of the Rings films. There are perhaps no movie directors better prepared to take on these most recent projects given their experience on both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies.
Jackson's comeback will also allow Warner Bros. to differentiate their version of the movie from Amazon Video's. Although sharing a lot of the same aesthetic elements as Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has not garnered as warm of response from audiences as its predecessors. But, Jackson's direction of these most recent Lord of the Rings films might be able to win back some of the viewers turned off by Prime Video's occasionally contentious treatment of the source material.
Source: Deadline
