[Formendacil]

I think any speculation on the possible effects of a Children of Húrin movie needs to first make fairly clear what the movie itself would look like.

I mean, Tumhalad seems to be saying that a CoH movie would necessarily present a different sort of story than LotR. Now, one could agree with Nerwen in stating that Tolkien does not have a fundamentally different moral landscape in these two books (an assertion that I, personally, only agree with if you see CoH as a part of the Silm). However, that does not mean that a movie CoH would actually differ from a movie LotR in this respect. Adaptation is the key--or the problem.

For example, I don't really think that Peter Jackson's movie version of the LotR actually got the metaphysical aesthetic of Middle-earth right--or, if you differentiate them, the metaphysical aesthetic of the LotR, specifically. Well, it's actually a mixed bag on this score--I think FotR succeeded mostly, but that TTT and RotK both have major failings--and these failings are especially strong when looked through the lens of the "metaphysical aesthetic."

So... if there was a movie-version of CoH, how do we know it would present Tolkien's metaphysics at all? Granted, we may see something new from Jackson and Co. in The Hobbit that may ameliorate my evaluation of their ability to present Tolkien's metaphysical aesthetic, but on the basis of the LotR, I would be concerned that any attempt Jackson et al might make on the CoH would get the externals right and the metaphysics wrong. In other words, in the hands of the wrong movie-makers, CoH would not change the public's perception of Tolkien, but reinforce it.

Of course, the argument goes the other way... let's try to imagine what a Pixar version of CoH would look like--okay, I admit that one is more amusingly incongruous than anything else--or imagine a Tim Burton version (whoa! bizarre... though maybe a better fit than Pixar)... and that's just naming two recognisable styles.

My whole point is that this is a speculative topic at best, and without some really clear vision of what a CoH movie would look like (which can only be decided arbitrarily), it's impossible to really have a constructive discussion about it.