"Lord of the Rings" fans have another film to look forward to after Warner Bros. green lit the first of a new round of films for the franchise. “Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum,” will focus on Andy Serkis’ Middle-Earth character.
Peter Jackson and his film making partners Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh will produce the new project. Jackson was also the “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy producer, as fans will know — signaling more of an assured continuity with the new films stylistically.
Writers on the film say the project is still in its early stages as collaborators work on scripts. They are joined by Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou, Variety reported, citing detailed revealed by Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav. The new films are expected to explore "storylines yet to be told," Zaslav said.
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The project, which also carried a New Line Cinema studio credit, will settle "unfinished business with that stinker — Gollum!" Jackson, Boyens and Walsh said as they talked about Serkis joining them in their work in development of the story.
Serkis said they will be working with WETA and their "film making family in New Zealand" as they work through finalizing the script and pre-production before filming.
The "Lord of the Rings" fantasy film franchise is considered to be one of the most successful in history. The filmmakers conducted negotiations with the franchise rights holder, Embracer Group AB, and plan to develop multiple other films based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s book series, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
