Current Events > New LotR/Gollum movie in 2026, Serkis to star and direct

(+) Yeah! (+)

Warner Bros. to Release First New Lord of the Rings Movie The Hunt for Gollum in 2026, Peter Jackson to Produce and Andy Serkis to Direct

Warner Bros. will release the first of its new batch of The Lord of the Rings films in 2026, which will focus on Andy Serkiss Gollum.
Original The Lord of the Rings trilogy filmmaker Peter Jackson and his partners Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens are producing the movie and will be involved every step of the way, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said during an earnings call Thursday.
The project is currently in the early stages of script development from writers Walsh and Boyens, along with Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou, and will explore storylines yet to be told, Zaslav said.

In a press release from Warner Bros. later Thursday morning, the studio revealed that the working title for the film is Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, and it will be directed by and star Serkis in his iconic titular role. The film will be executive produced by Ken Kamins, with Serkis and The Imaginariums Jonathan Cavendish.
Warner Bros. first announced in February 2023 that then-newly installed studio leaders Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy had brokered a deal to make multiple films based on the beloved J.R.R. Tolkien books. The projects will be developed through WB label New Line Cinema. Freemode, a division of Embracer Group, made the adaptive rights deal for books including The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit under a venture named Middle-earth Enterprises.
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 Tolkiens works, and to ensure audiences could experience the incredible world he created in a way that honors his literary vision, De Luca and Abdy said in a statement Thursday. We are honored 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.
Jackson, Walsh and Boyens added: It is an honour and a privilege to travel back to Middle-earth with our good friend and collaborator, Andy Serkis, who has unfinished business with that Stinker Gollum! As life long fans of Professor Tolkiens vast mythology, we are proud to be working with Mike De Luca, Pam Abdy and the entire team at Warner Bros. on another epic adventure!
Yesssss, Precious, Serkis said. The time has come once more to venture into the unknown with my dear friends, the extraordinary and incomparable guardians of Middle Earth Peter, Fran and Philippa. With Mike and Pam, and the Warner Bros team on the quest as well, alongside WETA and our filmmaking family in New Zealand, its just all too delicious
The original Lord of the Rings trilogy, helmed by Jackson, grossed nearly $3 billion worldwide; Jacksons follow-up trilogy based on Tolkiens The Hobbit matched those grosses.
Jacksons first LOTR trilogy starred Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin and Cate Blanchett. That trio of films was nominated for 30 Academy Awards and took home 17 trophies, including best picture for 2003s The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

https://variety.com/2024/film/news/lord-of-the-rings-movie-2026-release-warner-bros-1235997102/

So this would be Gandalf and Aragorn hunting Gollum during the years after Bilbo's Bday party but before Frodo leaves?

It cant be any worse than Amazons shit fueled tv show

inb4gollumtrilogy

Ah yes, beloved hit character Gollum. Surely he deserves a movie.

Gollum

Giant_Aspirin posted...

inb4gollumtrilogy

oh no

silmarillion great tales trilogy when

I feel there's better Tolkien content that could be made into a movie or movies, although there could be rights issues with that, but maybe this will be interesting.

rivers posted...

silmarillion great tales trilogy when

The Tolkien estate won't give up the rights to it. They've not been happen with some of the LOTR content that's been made.

Please let it be based on the video game, please let it be based on the video game...

he hasn't really directed any good movies, so I'll wait and see with this

So this is why they made a Gollum game.

After The Hobbit trilogy, I'm kinda burned out.

masterpug53 posted...

Please let it be based on the video game, please let it be based on the video game...

I am hoping so too!

It should star Andy Milonakis instead.

Pikachuchupika posted...

So this is why they made a Gollum game.

I'm sure it'll be just as good too.

Zaslav must be stopped.

Always wanted to know what adventures Gollum got into after Return of the King.

__aCEr__ posted...

Always wanted to know what adventures Gollum got into after Return of the King.

The lava of Mount Doom was actually a portal to another dimension

littlebro07 posted...

The lava of Mount Doom was actually a portal to another dimension

That time we were reincarnated as a foot in another world

Is it April Fools?

why does WB think people care about gollum

I'm sure this'll be super good

No thanks

littlebro07 posted...

The lava of Mount Doom was actually a portal to another dimension

Kinda like how CIA landed in Westeros and started calling himself 'Littlefinger.'

Gollum fell though his portal and suddenly found himself as a super-smart ape living with James Franco.

How about a different medieval fantasy franchise instead? Surely there must plenty of other great books out there that are worthy of an adaptation. Better yet, an original movie series not based on anything (that'll definitely never happen though).

I might be in the minority, but I don't place Tolkien's Hobbit/LOTR franchise up there on a high pedestal. They're good books no doubt, and greatly influence the medieval fantasy genre, but they're not the greatest and there's plenty of other good stuff out there that are waiting to be adapted. And we've already had plenty of Tolkien adaptions throughout the decades.

Just... why?

hope it doesn't turn out like the game did

ShaneMcComez posted...

How about a different medieval fantasy franchise instead? Surely there must plenty of other great books out there that are worthy of an adaptation. Better yet, an original movie series not based on anything (that'll definitely never happen though)

I think you know the answer to that...

As a wise Krab once said, I like money.

LeCh0nk posted...

I think you know the answer to that...

Yes I do sadly.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/7/798b0c81.jpg

And yet still no Dragonlance film smdh

If it's Andy Serkis' Gollum, I'm all in

This would have been more relevant if soon after the original trilogy. There was a time people really did like the character, and the CGI was great back then

lolife67 posted...

And yet still no Dragonlance film smdh

Yeah that's a shame. All we got was a terrible animated adaptation of the first book.

Color me interested.

lolife67 posted...

And yet still no Dragonlance film smdh

Dragonlance (at least the original 'Dragons' trilogy) was the first fantasy novel saga I loved, but looking back on it, it was a bit rough plot-wise. I'd push for more of a loose, retooled adaptation than a direct one. EDIT giving it some further thought, I think my main problem with the original trilogy was that Spring Dawning was too much of a messy anti-climax that really only served to set up the 'Twins' trilogy, so that's the only one that needs retooled imo.

Who knows? Maybe BG3's success will get studios looking back on all the old D&D properties.

Interesting.

fucking pass so hard do i pass on this.

it will be horrible, fyi

Jackson and Serkis being involved gives me a small ray of hope

but I'll wait for it to be on streaming and only watch it if it has good reviews lol

fucking why lmao

Why Gollum? Was he really that much of a hit with the audience? I like his character in the universe, but not nearly enough to watch a whole movie about him.

The last hour is gonna be Gollum being tortured by the ringwraiths a la The Passion

masterpug53 posted...

Dragonlance (at least the original 'Dragons' trilogy) was the first fantasy novel saga I loved, but looking back on it, it was a bit rough plot-wise. I'd push for more of a loose, retooled adaptation than a direct one. EDIT giving it some further thought, I think my main problem with the original trilogy was that Spring Dawning was too much of a messy anti-climax that really only served to set up the 'Twins' trilogy, so that's the only one that needs retooled imo.

Who knows? Maybe BG3's success will get studios looking back on all the old D&D properties.

I've recently re-read the original trilogy and it's not perfect but neither were the LOTR books. I'd fully expect an adaptation to change some things, like the LOTR films did.

Doesn't the hunt involve Aragorn, Leoglas, and Gandalf? Are they gonna bring them all back? Gonna be weird to recast something in between The Hobbit and LotR.

We're going to look back on this someday and ask ourselves, which is better? The Gollum video game or movie?

My thing about this is the same thing I said about that awful video game... we don't need more of the Gollum story. The films covered pretty much everything interesting about him that was mentioned in the books. Aragorn and Gandalf hunting for Gollum is something that's covered very briefly in the story from what I recall, and I don't know how you'd turn that into a worthwhile movie.

lolife67 posted...

And yet still no Dragonlance film smdh

Fuck no. They would absolutely butcher those.