Blog: Films

On 2 September 2022 the landscape of Tolkien fandom, fantasy media and streaming services will fundamentally change with the release of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, the most expensive TV series ever produced. Amazon have funded the endeavour which is the brainchild of J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, but so far the much of the online commentary is trapped either comparing the series (they haven’t seen) to Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, or through the lens of the intentions and thoughts of the author. (more…)

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The Extended Edition of 2013’s The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug was released on Monday 3rd November. Tolkien film-aficionados have got used to the obligatory 11-month wait for the “proper” version of the film, but is the extra half-an-hour of “juicy” book-based shenanigans really worth it? Warning: spoilers ahead. (more…)

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This is such a common question at the moment, I think it deserves its own blog post. The short answer is no – or, at least, not any time soon.
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In his review of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, David Bratman makes the astute observation that the title of the film goes unexplained. Unless the extended edition changes this when it’s released – presumably in November 2015 – viewers will have to decide for themselves which groups Peter Jackson considered one of the five armies.1

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It’s been worth the wait. Although we’ve have had a teaser trailer for some months now, today Warner Bros. finally revealed to fans their vision of the Middle-earth duo-trilogy (hexalogy)? Their vision is one of epic proportions blasting through any cuteness and trivialities to present a grim, dangerous, emotionally-complex and eye-watering spectacular Middle-earth. (more…)