More than two decades after we witnessed in astonishment the trilogy that changed everything, that of ‘The Lord of the Rings’, from Warner Bros. They are in the middle of a plan to return to Middle-earth in the form of new films, as revealed by David Zaslav last February.
Although beyond the animated ‘The War of the Rohirrim’ and that there is talk that it will be Warner’s ‘Star Wars’ there is no nothing concrete in development, at least that is known. The company is, apparently, on lead feet and is clear that to continue they must somehow involve the person who made magic with the franchise: Peter Jackson.
And the good news is that they have already had a first contact with the filmmaker. This is how they have assured it Michael deLuca and Pam AbdyCoCEOs and top heads of the Warner Bros. film division and, therefore, those who have managed to negotiate the agreement to make these new ‘Lord of the Rings’ films.
New Zealand, beloved homeland
As we have read in the extensive profile that Variety dedicates to them, the executive duet recently traveled to New Zealand to visit Peter Jackson and re-establish studio connection to original director of the franchise.
This, for the moment, does not imply that the filmmaker returns to his directing duties… but taking into account that one of the priorities of de Luca and Abdy is to keep their big names on the payroll (like Nolan), it wouldn’t be surprising to see him behind the scenes.
All this, by the way, comes in the midst of the Embracer Group crisis, the current owner of the rights to Tolkien’s work (via the acquisition of Middle Earth Enterprises) and which has already announced a restructuring and cancellation of several projects, especially in its video game section. Fortunately, it seems that Tolkien adaptations are a priority for the group and, in fact, the company is involved in the animated ‘War of the Rohirrim’ film.
From there, the maze of rights that exists with the author’s work, in which there are notable exceptions (Peter Jackson’s films and their derivatives are in the Warner range), means that despite his initial promises to move away of this, the future of the franchise in Warner passes, precisely, for expanding that fraction of Middle-earth.
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