Peter Jackson to produce Andy Serkis-directed Lord Of The Rings: The Hunt For Gollum

Last year, Andy Serkis said he would happily return to Middle-earth if Peter Jackson and his co-writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens were involved. Seems he’s gotten his wish, and then some: Warner Bros. Discovery announced on Thursday that Jackson would produce a new Lord Of The Rings film, directed by and starring Serkis (via Deadline). On WBD’s quarterly earnings call, CEO David Zaslav said the studio is aiming for a 2026 release of the new movie, which is currently titled Lord Of The Rings: The Hunt For Gollum.

At the moment, the studio is developing two adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien’s work, the first of which is “now in the early stages of script development,” according to Zaslav. The Hunt For Gollum will be written by Walsh, Boyens, and Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou (writers of the WBD animated LOTR film, Lord Of The Rings: The War Of The Rohirrim). Jackson, Walsh, and Boyens released a joint statement (via Deadline) saying, “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!”

In his own statement, Serkis—who previously directed Mowgli: Legend Of The Jungle and Venom: Let There Be Carnage—said, “Yesssss, Precious. 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 film making family in New Zealand, it’s just all too delicious…”.

Zaslav first announced that Warner Bros. Discovery would make more LOTR last year, but it’s been on his radar since the beginning of his tenure. In November 2022, six months after assuming the throne, Zaslav put emphasis on WB’s IP: “Batman, Superman, Aquaman, if we can do something with JK on Harry Potter going forward, Lord Of The Rings, what are we doing with Game Of Thrones? What are we doing with a lot of the big franchises that we have? We’re focused on franchises.” Now, two years later, Zaslav is still ringing the same bell with this announcement: “Lord of the Rings is one of the most successful and revered franchises in history and presents a significant opportunity for our theatrical business,” he said on Thursday’s earnings call (via The Hollywood Reporter).

The new Warner Bros. Lord Of The Rings spin-off is, of course, not related to and not to be confused with Amazon Prime Video’s (intended) television franchise, Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power. The intellectual property rights situation is a little bit messy. Warner Bros. Discovery, through its subsidiary New Line Cinema, has a deal with Middle-earth Enterprises (a subdivision of the Embracer Freemode division of Embracer Group, a Swedish video game and media holding company). Middle-earth Enterprises specifically holds the film rights to The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings, and therefore the rights to most of Tolkien’s most recognizable characters, including, yes, Gollum.

Meanwhile, Amazon obtained its rights directly from the Tolkien estate, and it has access to the same works (Hobbit and LOTR) for television. But Amazon also has the exclusive rights to the Appendices and anything to do with the Second Age of Middle-earth (LOTR is set in the Third Age). To make its own mark and create its own franchise, The Rings Of Power focused on the Second Age and a cast of mostly new characters. As a result, the television show (the most expensive television show of all time) didn’t really have the cultural impact that the LOTR film trilogy did. Basically, Serkis has a huge leg up on the competition by helming a movie that’s a direct continuation of the hugely popular and culturally significant films. Whether the market becomes oversaturated with Tolkien content, well, that remains to be seen….