After the Hobbit and now Rings of Power, and that Rohan movie was pretty mid too, I just don't have any faith in Tolkien adaptations anymore. Jackson's trilogy was like catching lightning in a bottle, but nothing will ever live up to Tolkien's words.
this post was submitted on 17 May 2026
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Tolkien, Lord of the Rings (LotR), etc.
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I think we need at least four movies:
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The Fall of the Noldor: from "as early as is reasonable" to somewhere between the rising of the sun and the establishment of the realms of the Noldor
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Beren and Lúthien. Put the Dagor Bragollach in the prologue.
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The Children of Húrin. Put the Nirnaeth Arnoediad in the prologue.
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The Fall of Gondolin and Raising of the Star. Put the War of Wrath and the fate of the Silmarils at the end of this movie.
I'm not sure where we can put the Fall of Doriath, but I'd put it in The Fall of Gondolin instead of Beren and Lúthien. I don't want to ruin the end of Beren and Lúthien by ending it with their son and grandsons killed.
This, but split the first into two films. Introducing the setting and the players of the First Age and the Fall of the Noldor in one film would be too much. The first film could end at the Oath of Fëanor or the Noldor receiving the Doom of Mandos.
The second one would end with the realms of the Noldor already established with the siege of Angband in place. The epilogue would see Finrod discovering and befriending the first Men in Beleriand. Otherwise the jump to the following "Beren and Lúthien" would be awkward and Finrod's sacrifice wouldn't have the depth it deserves.
These two films should be "Morgoth's" films, establishing him as the nigh unbeatable force of irredeemable evil that he is. Since he takes a step back in the further tales, these should flesh him out and make it perfectly clear that the Noldor's war against him is hopeless without the Valar.
I agree now that the "Fall of the Noldor" movie(s) has/have to end with the realms of the Noldor in place. And I like that epilogue idea of discovering Men.
How could we make the first movie interesting to a blockbuster audience? Maybe expand on the Great Journey?
I've been thinking since I posted and I fear I might have to split the last movie too. The fall of Doriath, the fall of Gondolin, Earendil's voyage, and the War of Wrath and general tying-up of loose ends is an awful lot to pack into one movie. It's a shame that these are also the stories Tolkien expanded upon the least.
But now we've got six movies!
The first film could open with the Battle of the Powers in full swing. Then we'd take a step back, with a Vala (Mandos?) explaining why this war was fought, explaining the creation of Arda and the awakening of the Elves. Then the capture of Melkor.
The mostly peaceful Great Journey would be a nice break after the action of the war. Thingol and Melian's meeting would also be a critical thing to include. The Great Journey could conclude with the Eldar crossing the sea on the island, then a few thousand year time jump forward.
The elven civilization of Aman is now in full bloom and rhe focus is now on Fëanor, who is already s reknown master of many crafts. Melkor is released on probation and things go bad. The Doom of Mandos might be a better cliffhanger, cutting off at the Oath would leave the impact of Fëanor's bad choices stunted. His "from the best to the worst" - arc would have the maximum effect wirh him ordering the first Kinslaying and betraying his brothers by burning rhe ships in the first film.
I'd say that two thirds of the film should be about Fëanor and Melkor in Aman, with the bombastic war of the gods in the beginning that should have enough intrigue for general audiences.
And yes, six films should be minimum to give justice to the overall story of the Silmarils ;)
The problem is that this will always be too complicated for your average movie goer. LOTR works because it has big, epic set pieces which all connect via a handful of characters. The would-be silmarillion equivalents have a lot of shaky continuity which would require a lot of interpolation if told from the ground up.
Mini series?
This is my favorite example of why estates shouldn't retain IPs.
The Silmairillion is my favorite Tolkein. I've got zero interest in an adaptation
Let's stretch the story paper thin and make it feel like a cartoon while we tell an epic hero story.
Finally, the narrative treatment Tom Bombadil deserves!
But it's like 10 books in one book.... if the hobbit was 3 movies this one would be 100
It would only be 30 (10x3). 🤷♂️
I was being hyperbolic, I know what 10x3 is lol
Yeah, well, prove it smart guy!
uh but but well um YOU prove it runs away furiously
He's also putting it out there that he wants to make a second Tintin movie. I suspect it's all just fishing to see if he can get investment or studio interest.
It was always planned to do two Tintins, one directed by Spielberg and produced by Jackson, and another with the roles reversed.
I understood there were two be two more. Anthony Horovitz was hired and actually wrote the sequel, Prisoners of the Sun, in 2010-11 and the final one was to be based on Alpha-Art (not sure if that was scripted). That Jackson is now talking about making movies based on The Silmarillion and is in rights negotitions with the Tolkien estate as well as his various restoration projects is an indication Tintin isn't his focus.
That was a part of why the Hobbit got screwed.
They were working with Guillermo Del Toro for like two years but didn’t get funding, so Guillermo left. Then Jackson started spinning up the project and got seriously sick, which left the crew to only able to keep practicing fancy camera angles and CGI stuff.
I was mad about the orcs, but in the hobbit it does describe that orcs and goblins are interchangeable, orc is the hobbit word for goblin. Agog is in the book, but dead for two generations, so I don’t know why they didn’t just keep it to Bolg as the nemesis.
The elf romance is unforgivable.
Thor being curt and overly direct is wrong, in the book he speaks for hours without saying anything. Except after he finds Bilbo took the arkenstone, then he’s pretty directly a dick.
Gandalf dealing with the necromancer really isn’t something for the movie either, as it’s the Hobbit. That would be fine in the silmarilion though. Technically it is in the hobbit but only in passing, as Gandalf tells the elves about it but doesn’t really talk to Bilbo directly.
It was a rights negotiation that kept tripping them up, as MGM held the Hobbit rights. Eventually they came to an agreement to combine MGM’s rights with the Zaentz rights New Line represented for the Hobbit project. But by then Del Toro decided to move on, and Jackson was told that unless he took over and started shooting immediately, the whole thing would be pulled, and given the painful negotiations between New Line and MGM, it would be unlikely to be revived.
Thank you, I was going off memory from the commentary
Yeah, so rushed and overproduced. Not a great combo.
Jackson's pre-LotR movies are pretty good. The Frighteners is a really great movie. I'm not a fan of what he did to LotR at all. The magic (for want of a better word) was lost in favour of being a action movie for popcorn-munching audiences. Far too much was altered or left out and the world of Middle Earth became far too ordinary and realistic. I completely agree with you especially about The Hobbit where the tone is absolutely wrong.
It's gonna be awful most likely. At least if it goes out the Hobbit way we can get fanedits that cut out the bad stuff and make it more book accurate.
They should get the director who made the LotR movies instead. /s
If the studio does not take too much creative control it could be fine. Hobbit was supposed to be 2 kovies originally but then the studio started meddling
Do you know of a good fan edit of the hobbit?
The M4 book edit. Tries to stick to the book as close as possible, trimming the 3 movies into one 4hr long movie (he even replaced Bard's son with a wooden beam in the scene where Smaug is killed). Also adds an extra of some of the cut out stuff gandalf does.
An adaptation of Beren and Luthien or Children of Hurin could be great
These two would be the obvious choices, being the stories where the characters even actually do get some characterizatization.
The big problem with the film adaptations would be laying out the setting of the First Age properly to audiences who would not be familiar with the story. It would need a lot of worldbuilding to get it right.
The Silmarillion is my favourite book and I would love to see it done right. There is hope, even if it is slim.
This is one of the few cases where I'd be happy with splitting the book into multiple films. A film for each of the 4 epics of the first age: the creation myth up through the War of Wrath, Beren and Lúthien, the Children of Húrin, and the Fall of Gondolin (with an epilogue showing the sinking of Beleriand and the founding of Númenor).
I just hope they get Galadriel right this time and show her as the timeless badass she really is, instead of the whiny child she comes off as in Rings of Power
There's no way they make it about anyone but Fingolfin, because GROND.
One hope vote in the go LOTR bucket.