This is pure speculation brought on by a discussion I was involved in yesterday on these boards. The subject was a possible HOBBIT movie or two directed by Jackson. Several reports indicate that in addition to THE HOBBIT as we know it, Jackson may attempt to add a second film using other materials from the Appendecies and elsewhere in the canon. This brings up the debate about the extent to which they can do that.
For example, Gondolin is mentioned in THE HOBBIT, but it certainly is not described to the level of detail that is found in THE SIL and and HOME. A person on these boards whose opinion I respect, William Cloud Hicklin, wrote the following
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For events of the Third Age the LR and its appendices are really the only source, aside from the 'History of Galadriel and Celeborn' and the historical essays in UT. I noted in a thread a while back that in the (EE) death of Isildur PJ stuck with the LR account and avoided any part of the more detailed UT version.
Nobody's going to bother with de minimis borrowings, like the Ring of Barahir or the origin of Elves. Brief mentions can fly under the radar. Full narratives, on the other hand, based on elements of say Akallabeth which are manifestly not in the Appendices would pose a problem.
What I think is more likely is that PJ or whoever is going to concoct a near-total fiction involving the White Council and the Necromancer, which legally they can do. Dammit.
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Which brings me to ask this question. If film directors are going to pursue to use material in the Appendecies but such material is not fully fleshed out there, should the Tolkien Estate consider participation in such films as an attempt "to get it right" rather than risk total misrepresentation?
I realize that they want nothing to do with such films. I realize they do not need additional monies that may come from such an arrangement. However, it seems to me that a self fulfilling prophecy of such is going to take place which goes like this.
The films come out, use sketchy material from the mentioned sources but is not consistent with the fuller material in SIL and HOME. The purists pile on the criticism using this as more proof of both Jacksons faults and his arrogance.
Jackson camp: we did the best we could based on sketchy material from what we owned and were barred from using more detailed sources.
Tolkien purists: well you got it wrong yet again. You should never have made this movie in the first place.
Jackson camp: well we could have gotten it right with just a little cooperation from the Estate which we would have paid for that help.
Tolkien purists: 40% right? 50% right? who cares about your movies? Not us.
So my question is this. In the interest in getting it right - as much as is possible in the change of medium from book to film - would it be in the interests of the Tolkien Estate and the filmmakers to make a little peace and work together?