Warner Bros has announced yet another 'Lord of the Rings' movie it's been secretly working on for 2 years with a shocking name
The legendary Warner Bros. movie studio has revealed a new movie from the “Lord of the Rings” universe, separate from the already announced one, will be created by the famous comedian and American TV presenter Stephen Colbert, together with his son, an announcement that took Hollywood completely by surprise, reports Variety magazine.
The official announcement was made Tuesday evening on Warner Bros.' social media accounts. The trailer begins with Peter Jackson, director of the original “Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” films, giving a brief update on “The Hunt for Gollum.” This is the officially announced May 2024 Lord of the Rings movie directed by Andy Serkis, who played Gollum in both the original films and the Hobbit trilogy that followed them.
“Andy's doing an amazing job. He looks amazing. The script is coming along really well and I think it's going to be a really good movie,” Jackson said of “The Hunt for Gollum,” which is set to hit theaters next December if shooting goes as planned.
Jackson then hinted at a “very special partner” who will help him develop the next film after “The Hunt for Gollum,” titled “The Lord of the Rings: Shadows of the Past.”
That partner turned out to be Stephen Colbert, host of “The Late Show,” whom Jackson contacted via video call. The American comedian and TV host, an avowed admirer of Tolkien, explained that the plot of his film will come from chapters of the novel “The Fellowship of the Ring” that were not included in Jackson's 2001 adaptation.
Stephen Colbert and Peter Jackson have already been working on this new Lord of the Rings movie for two years
“You know what books mean to me and what your movies mean to me,” Colbert told Jackson. “But the thing I kept coming back to, reading over and over again, were the six chapters at the beginning [‘Frăției Inelului’] that you guys didn't develop in the first movie at the time,” he continued.
“Basically, it's about the chapter 'Three is Company' [Capitolul III] to 'Fog on the Barrow-Downs' [Capitolul VIII]. And I thought, 'Wait a minute, maybe this could be a stand-alone story that fits into the bigger story. Could we do something completely true to the books, but at the same time completely true to the movies you've already made?'” the 61-year-old TV presenter explained.
The host of the CBS late-night talk show, the most popular of its kind in the US, said that after coming up with the idea, he discussed it with his son, screenwriter Peter McGee, and they devised a framework for the film. After they laid the groundwork, Colbert called Jackson, and for the past two years they've been working with screenwriter Philippa Boyens to develop a script.
The official description for the movie “The Lord of the Rings” created by the American TV presenter
The official description of the film reads: “14 years after Frodo's departure – Sam, Merry and Pippin set out to retrace the first steps of their adventure. Meanwhile, Sam's daughter Elanor has discovered a long-buried secret and is determined to find out why the War of the Ring was on the verge of being lost before it even began.”
Variety points out that this new “Lord of the Rings” project marks Colbert's first foray into developing “blockbuster” films and comes after CBS announced last year that it was canceling his show “The Late Show.”
However, this is not his first collaboration with Jackson. He had a minor role in the 2013 film The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. He also directed Jackson, as well as “Lord of the Rings” actors Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen and Elijah Wood, in the 2019 short film “Darrylgorn,” set in JRR Tolkien's Middle Earth.
New Zealand-based screenwriter Philippa Boyens has a long association with Jackson. She contributed to the screenplays for “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy and “The Hobbit” films with Fran Walsh. He also helped write “King Kong,” the 2005 monster epic directed by Jackson.
As for McGee, he has worked as a screenwriter on both series and movies, contributing to the productions of “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” “Outer Banks,” “The Righteous Gemstones,” and “Blue Bloods.”
Dreamtime for fans of JRR Tolkein's works
Tolkien wrote the “Lord of the Rings” novels in the 1950s after the success of “The Hobbit,” his 1937 book.
Jackson adapted the famous fantasy saga into three films, released in 2001, 2002 and 2003. Widely regarded as his most acclaimed work, they won 17 Academy Awards, 11 of which went to the final chapter, Return of the King. Jackson later adapted The Hobbit as well, splitting the relatively short novel into three parts released in 2012, 2013 and 2014.
Warner Bros. is producing the new Lord of the Rings films through its partnership with Embracer Group, the Swedish media holding company that bought the extended rights to the Lord of the Rings franchise in 2021.
Amazon Prime Video's “Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” series is produced by Amazon studio MGM as part of a separate deal with Tolkien's heirs prior to the deal with Embracer Group.
