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

Via Variety
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Warner Bros. will release the first of its new batch of live-action “The Lord of the Rings” films in 2026, which will focus on Andy Serkis’ 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 Imaginarium’s 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.

A separate, animated Middle-earth movie, “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim,” is due on Dec. 13 via Warner Bros. and director Kenji Kamiyama. That movie is set 200 years before the events of “The Hobbit.”

“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 Tolkien’s 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 Tolkien’s 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, it’s just all too delicious…”

The original “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, helmed by Jackson, grossed nearly $3 billion worldwide; Jackson’s follow-up trilogy based on Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” matched those grosses.

Jackson’s 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 2003’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.”

 

[William Murderface]

Oh, thank God. Our long national nightmare of not having yet another prequel is over.

 

[Laburnum]

High time to build on the success of the Gollum game.

 

[ShitLurker]

So fatman needs a check I see. Would it just be the movie version of the shitty videogame?

 

[General Emílio Médici]

There is no audience for this. There is no one asking for this, nor is there any need for it.

This is exactly the sort of thing a midwit, 85iq Hollywood executive who worships "market research" and believes in "wider audience" would come up with.

 

[Sulla]

Imagine how bad it will get when lotr becomes public domain

 

[Fungible penis]

Fuck Andy, his ego by far outweighs what meagre talents he has managed to inflate.

 

[Zbk3VmLfujjzjxBd43tL]

So it's going to be that one Gollum game, but with more blacks and maybe even some troons? Awesome, thanks Hollywood! I'm sure Peter Jackson must be happy too, since this is going to make the Hobbit movies (especially that last one) look like classics!

 

[xXx: State of the Union]

WB, Stop trying to make Gollum happen. It's not going to happen.

 

[Your Starter for 10]

I don't know how we lived with nigger elves, tranny orcs and armies of obnoxious girlbosses only on television and not in the movies.

Can't wait for the nigger chick elf to kick the stodgy hu-white male bad guy in the nuts and Gollum to say "Ouch, right in the precious!" Followed by other fat nigger lesbian dwarf going "Well that just happened."

 

[William Murderface]

The thing is, he has no story. Nobody was looking for Gollum and everyone who even knew about the ring assumed it was simply lost until Bilbo gets it in The Hobbit. Gollum spends three thousand years or whatever slowly being corrupted and turning from Smeagol to Gollum, eating fish, worms, and the occasional unlucky goblin who comes his way and that's the entire story. It's right there in the books.

 

[Asian tech support]

So the "life long fans of Professor Tolkien" decided the best way to cherish and remember his work was by forming Middle-earth Enterprises. As if his legacy hasn't already been desecrated enough.

 

[Bland Crumbs]

I cannot see this as being anything but a failure.

This is going to go about as well as Morbius.

 

[Jet Fuel Johnny]

I hope Gollum is shown as the strong black kween she has always been.

They can call it "Gollum: Escape From Middle Earth Patriarchy!"

 

[WhiskeyJack]

The thing is, he has no story. Nobody was looking for Gollum and everyone who even knew about the ring assumed it was simply lost until Bilbo gets it in The Hobbit. Gollum spends three thousand years or whatever slowly being corrupted and turning from Smeagol to Gollum, eating fish, worms, and the occasional unlucky goblin who comes his way and that's the entire story. It's right there in the books.

I assume it'll be about all those parts of "Fellowship" that weren't in the film, Gollum meeting Shelob and being captured in Mordor (they show his torture briefly in the film), then escaping and being caught by Aragorn and held captive by the Mirkwood elves before escaping to Moria to pester Frodo.

Basically the stuff the recent terrible game covered. The story itself isn't bad, that game just had horrible everything else. I don't have high hopes for a film version, though. Maybe if they push it back a few years and really take their time, like they did with the LOTR films.

 

[Dragged Into Sunlight]

I'm not convinced they actually want to make money with Lord of the Rings.

I think the whole point is to gay and brown and woman the series up as a humiliation ritual.

 

[Ibanez RG 350EX]

I assume it'll be about all those parts of "Fellowship" that weren't in the film, Gollum meeting Shelob and being captured in Mordor (they show his torture briefly in the film), then escaping and being caught by Aragorn and held captive by the Mirkwood elves before escaping to Moria to pester Frodo.

Finally, Middle-Earth fans will find out how Gollum got his iconic loincloth!

 

[Standardized Profile]

The thing is, he has no story. Nobody was looking for Gollum

Aragorn and Gandalf spent years looking for Gollum, on and off from 3001 to 3017. It doesn't really feel like movie material, though. "Did you find Gollum?" "No." "Me neither. See you next year."

 

[Your Starter for 10]

It's right there in the books.

It's right there in the whats now?

 

[Absolutego]

Pete whyyyyyyyyy
At least with the Hobbit I could somewhat buy the excuse that you were thrown in last minute to salvage the project so all your friends in NZ didn't lose their job after Guillermo Del Toro bailed b/c of WB's bullshit, but this is egregious.