Subject for the Second film?

[zxcvbn]

i would like to point out that many of the radical changes in the plot can be credited to Fran Walsh and the 'Tolkien expert' Phillipa Boyens, who handled most of the script writing. And as much as I like the LOTR films, I hope Boyens is unable to collaborate on the Hobbit script and PJ gets his friend Steven Sinclair instead.

[Sauron the White]

I expect were any 'expert' to be provided, PJ's attitude would be much the same as StW and others: "What the hell do you know about making movies?"

That is certainly a very blunt way of putting it. And it could turn out that way. My take on this is yes, you can be a Tolkien expert and not know beans about the process of film and how they make them and what the demands are. That is undeniable. During the first trilogy of films, Jackson and company learned something about Middle-earth. They probably did not learn enough to make it perfect. But it looks like they learned enough to earn enough and please the public.

I would hope the second time around they could improve on that record and go a little further in making the films more authentic. People here seem to think that I apologize for everything Jackson did in the films and am ignorant of the books.
Not so. I have read them many many times since my first effort way back in 1971. I love those books. And I can watch the films and cringe at things like the scrubbing bubbles of the Dead and kicking the pathetic behind of Gollum or making jokes about bodily gasses. Believe me folks, I sure wish none of that were in there.

I do get tired of rehashing all the same tired disputes year after year. But I still engage in them. Just canot resist the lure of the ring I guess. It would be nice if this next batch of films did not repeat that pattern. Do any of us want to be doing this over and over again five and ten years from now? One way to prevent that and have something we all can be proud of would be to have an expert from the Estate in on the entire process to advise. It would help if that person had some experience in film and understood that its a lot more than just pointing out that "it did not happen that way in the books".

Right now the slate is clean and fresh and there is opportunity. Lets all hope that steps can be taken in the right direction.

[Lalwendë]

Sadly, being an uber-fan does not guarantee that you are the best person to add to or remove from Tolkien's text and create something new. Efforts by members of the Tolkien Society in re-writing are sometimes proof of that

I just hope for someone who understands narrative and plot.

[zxcvbn]

I've noticed that threads on this forum tend to get off topic. The topic of this thread is to discuss Middle Earth stories that can potentially be told in the second, unnamed prequel film. I'll start off by recommending the tale of the Fall of Arnor at the hands of the Witch King. With Max Von Sydow as Malbeth the Seer and Liam Neeson as Arvedui.

[Quempel]

I agree zxcvbn, however, I believe the second film will be PJ et al's Phantom Menence. He and his writers will be drawing on bits and pieces and won't have the strong Tolkien backbone to prop them up. So they will have to fill in a great deal of the plots, character developments ect. And their past track record i.e. before having Tolkiens backbone to prop him up, shows they can produce some really stinkers.