Middle-earth in motion pictures

J. R. R. Tolkien's novels The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954–55), set in his fictional world of Middle-earth, have been the subject of numerous motion picture adaptations across film and television.

Other filmmakers who were interested in an adaptation included Walt Disney, Al Brodax, Forrest J Ackerman, Samuel Gelfman, Denis O'Dell, and Heinz Edelmann.

[5] According to the animator Wolfgang Reitherman, Walt Disney wanted to make a Lord of the Rings feature film in the 1950s, but his storyboard artists deemed it too complex, too lengthy, and too scary for the company.

[13][4][5] The treatment was criticised by Ian Nathan,[14] Tom Shippey[15] and others; Kristin Thompson noted the amateur nature of the enterprise, saying that it never represented a serious attempt at a commercial film.

Tolkien told Gutwillig he had "given a considerable amount of time and thought" to a film adaptation, noting "some ideas concerning what I think would be desirable" as well as the "difficulties" involved.

[5] Tolkien later received a suggestion in fan-mail to have The Hobbit adapted to a serial in four intervals, declined by his publisher Rayner Unwin for its potential to "incarcerate us in the local odeons for nine or ten hours.

[5] Snyder commissioned cartoonist Gene Deitch to write a script for a feature-length Hobbit cartoon; this took liberties with the text, inserting a princess of Dale who undertakes the Quest and ends up married to Bilbo.

[5] When a deal with 20th Century Fox fell through and the rights were due to expire, Snyder commissioned Deitch to quickly make a condensed film to fulfil the requirements of the contract.

It was exhibited only once, in a projection room at New York to around twelve spectators pulled from the street and provided the admission money by the exhibitors, so that they could sign a document stating that they paid to see a colour film based on The Hobbit.

By 1967, Gelfman established Katzka-Bernie productions with Gabriel Katzka and entered negotiations with Tolkien to adapt The Lord of the Rings for United Artists,[5][17] "with an option for The Hobbit.

"[7] As with Snyder, the emerging contracts would provide United Artists with complete creative freedom over the works, and offered them first bidding at the television rights, which were negotiated separately but never sold to them.

[5] Joy Hill, Tolkien's secretary who worked for Allen & Unwin, was said to have contacted Disney for the rights at the time,[1] perhaps to place United Artists in a competitive position.

In the 1960s, long widescreen epics (presented as a roadshow with an intermission) still proved successful, but few sequels were made in that genre, and therefore Katzka-Bernie commissioned Sir Peter Shaffer to write a treatment for a single, three-hour film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings.

[7] Now elderly, Tolkien's desire to set up a trust fund for his grandchildren could indicate that he might not have expected to live and see the resulting film, and wanted to use the profits to take care of his ailing wife.

[26][30] Kubrick had worked on genre films and had pioneered special effects in 2001: A Space Odyssey, but it proved complex to produce, and he had difficulty depicting the aliens onscreen, which would have made him wary of the prospect of rendering fantasy creatures.

[5][35] After the rights were secured and John Boorman made his script, the idea of casting the Beatles (as the four Hobbits) was brought back to the table by David Picker, until the band's separation became publicly known in 1970.

They were intrigued, but the script called for more expensive optical effects than was originally conceived, and the executives were unsure the audience would be sufficient,[55] thinking the genre mostly appealed to children, and the project stalled.

[57] In the early 1990s, Boorman again contacted Medavoy about The Lord of the Rings using new special effects technologies, but the project fell apart when Zaentz wanted more money,[55] demanding merchandising rights for himself.

[60] Franco Zeffirelli, Jake Kasdan,[61] Sir Ridley Scott,[62] The Hobbit was an influence on George Lucas's Star Wars,[63] and he later entered a lucrative partnership with Spielberg in producing and writing the stories for his Indiana Jones films.

Willow was eventually directed by Ron Howard, financed by Lucasfilm and distributed by MGM, and its inability to make substantial profits ended the high-fantasy productions of the 1980s.

[68][65] The Estate, along with Saul Zaentz who had purchased the film rights, tried to stop the production through a lawsuit, but it instead "became authorized through a series of settlement agreements" which allowed the special to air in Canada, where the books were not public domain.

After Tolkien's death in 1973, Bakshi started an "annual trip" to Medavoy, proposing that United Artists produce The Lord of the Rings as two or three animated films,[47] with a Hobbit prequel.

He insisted on a complete overhaul, and wrote a version which began at Bilbo's Farewell Party, continuing until Saruman's death, while Frodo and Sam left Cirith Ungol.

[31] The final revisions overlapped with the voice recording in London, accounting for inconsistencies like the spelling of "Saruman" (originally changed to Aruman to avoid confusion with Sauron) in the film.

"[47] Bakshi went to England to recruit a voice cast from the BBC Drama Repertory Company, including Christopher Guard, William Squire, Michael Scholes, Anthony Daniels, and John Hurt.

[88][89][90][91] The BBC's 1981 radio adaptation recruited veterans of Bakshi's voice cast, Michael Graham Cox and Peter Woodthorpe, to reprise their roles (Boromir and Gollum, respectively) from the film.

[98] Work on a combined animated/stop motion Hobbit cartoon, titled Treasures Under the Mountain, started in 1991, but the production stopped at an early stage, and only a six-minute intro is known to exist.

[133] Also returning were the heads of almost all departments in the production: the only major changes in the staff were of the role of the gaffer (after Brian Bansgrove died) and with stunt co-ordinator Glen Boswall replacing George Marshall Ruge.

The first new film was given the working title The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum and is intended to be released in 2026, with Serkis directing from a screenplay by Walsh, Boyens, Gittins, and Papageorgiou.

[152] Commercial and legal pressures on would-be fan film producers are substantial; at least one such project, the 2013–14 Storm over Gondolin,[153] was forced to close by the Tolkien Estate.