# I Want A Remake of The Hobbit! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 1, 2002, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-a-remake-of-the-hobbit/126593 "2002-09-01T19:39:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Daver914](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@Daver914](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daver914)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-a-remake-of-the-hobbit/126593/21 "2003-08-22T05:31:15Z")
It’s true. Tolkien had an essential dislike for modern technology, and said so many times in his letters. He thought of himself as the quintessential old hobbit tending his garden amid the chaos of a rapidly-industrializing world. There was an attempt to make a Lord of the Rings movie in the late 60’s, which Tolkien tentatively released the rights for on the basis of “art or cash” – that is, he would either have complete creative control and veto power over the production, or would be paid a large enough sum of money to turn his back. In the end Tolkien ended up refusing to cooperate (the movie was full of inaccuracies; for one thing, the orcs had _feathers_), and the project was dropped. I think he would have been happier with PJ’s production than any previous attempts, but that’s not to say he would have liked it. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-a-remake-of-the-hobbit/126593/22 "2003-08-22T11:24:13Z")
The first attempt to make a movie based on _The Lord of the Rings_ was in the late '50’s, I think. A group produced a script which they showed Tolkien. The amount of money that they were offering was pretty low and the script stunk. Tolkien said that it was unacceptable. He said that he wanted either reasonable fidelity or lots of money. In 1968 he sold the rights to Tolkien Enterprises (i.e., Saul Zaentz). Tolkien Enterprises now controls all cinematic uses of _The Lord of the Rings_ (and _The Hobbit_, I think) until such time as the copyrights run out. Tolkien got a reasonable amount of money, but I suspect that in comparison with the amount of money that the Jackson films have made, it’s not that all fired much. In any case, the Tolkien family has no say about the making of any movies. ---
**Author:** ![atticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/cdc98d/32.png) [@atticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/atticus)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-a-remake-of-the-hobbit/126593/23 "2003-08-22T13:27:36Z")
so now that we appear to have debunked the “Chris Tolkien won’t sell the rights to the Hobbit” myth, when will we see the movie? I mean, it is inevitable that Hollywood will exploit all available source material from the author of a movie series that will gross over 750 million, right? ---
**Author:** ![Horseflesh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horseflesh/32/7502_2.png) [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-a-remake-of-the-hobbit/126593/24 "2003-08-26T05:30:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CalMeacham \* > \*\*Someone made up a bogus film trailer for **The Hobbit** , using scenes from The Fellowship of the Ring and Dragonslayer. It looks really good, but I don’t have the website on me. \*\* [Here it is.](http://www.lathamfilm.com/hobbit.html) Wow, that is good. I especially liked the way they stiched Ian Holm and Vermithrax together in the same scene. Or is that Peter MacNichol? They both have curly hair. Cool music and he even puts a bogus release date at the end of Dec. 19th, 2006. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-a-remake-of-the-hobbit/126593/25 "2003-08-26T05:48:24Z")
Yeah, cool, except when you were late to the party when the RotK trailer got leaked out for a day or two, and you tried desperately to search on Kazaa for it, and all you got was the spoofed Hobbit trailer with “No, really, this is the REEEEEEAL RotK trailer!” Punks. I did eventually see it, however. ---
**Author:** ![Orual](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/779978/32.png) [@Orual](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orual)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-a-remake-of-the-hobbit/126593/26 "2003-08-26T12:02:37Z")
a) What is that song playing in the fakey preview? b) Anybody know Peter JAckson’s e-mail address so we can send that to him for motivation? ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-a-remake-of-the-hobbit/126593/27 "2003-08-26T13:00:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by slortar \* > \*\*Didn’t I read something in an interview somewhere that Peter Jackson said something to the effect that if the trilogy even comes remotely close to a success he’ll do a Hobbit? Um, movie that is. 🙂 > > Ah, Mirkwood. I’d love to see how they handle that…and Smaug, of course… \*\* Pervy hobbit fancier… ---
**Author:** ![atticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/cdc98d/32.png) [@atticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/atticus)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-a-remake-of-the-hobbit/126593/28 "2003-08-26T18:44:58Z")
Well, I read this morning that Peter Jackson just signed the most lucrative director deal in history to do a remake of “King Kong” for his next project (sigh, this is, what, the 5th or 6th version, not counting all the goofy sequels?). I will be shocked if New Line isn’t all over him for the project after that to do “the Hobbit” (assuming New Line can lay their hands on the rights…you can bet Dreamworks, Universal, etc. will be after it as well–about as sure a $250 million dollar payoff as a movie can be…) ---
**Author:** ![Delly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Delly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Delly)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-a-remake-of-the-hobbit/126593/29 "2003-08-26T22:47:22Z")
Ive said it before but Ill say it here anyway again, I read somewhere (have no idea where, it was before the release of FOTR) that Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema were making the Hobbit, they were just waiting until after the release of LOTR to see if they were successful first as they didnt want to start production if LOTR failed. As for Peter Jackson directing King Kong, didnt he sign that way back? ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-a-remake-of-the-hobbit/126593/30 "2003-08-27T00:27:20Z")
Well after watching [this,](http://lbstone.com/void/SWYUWZVHLI/bilbo.mov) , you may never want to say the word Hobbit again. Warning, this disgraces both The Hobbit and Star Trek. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-a-remake-of-the-hobbit/126593/31 "2003-08-27T03:54:45Z")
I have a friend whose band covered that, **Zebra**! Whenever he performed it, he’d wear zip-up pleather boots and white slacks. Great stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Arcana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aca169/32.png) [@Arcana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arcana)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-a-remake-of-the-hobbit/126593/32 "2003-08-27T06:26:23Z")
Beorn: Robbie Coltrane Gollum: Steve Buscemi Smaug’s Voice: Gilbert Godfried ---
**Author:** ![Earthworm\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f07891/32.png) [@Earthworm\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthworm_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-a-remake-of-the-hobbit/126593/33 "2003-08-27T12:15:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Arcana \* > \*\*Beorn: Robbie Coltrane > > Gollum: Steve Buscemi > > Smaug’s Voice: Gilbert Godfried \*\* What is Disneys **The Hobbit**? I’ll take “Studio / Film Combinations Garaunteed to Suck” for $1000, Alex. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2003, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-a-remake-of-the-hobbit/126593/34 "2003-08-28T01:52:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zebra \* > \*\*Well after watching [this,](http://lbstone.com/void/SWYUWZVHLI/bilbo.mov) , you may never want to say the word Hobbit again. > Warning, this disgraces both The Hobbit and Star Trek. \*\* The horror, the horror… Must. . . . restore. . . . neural. . . **P** athways! [soothing Quenya speech](http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/misc/local/TolkLang/pronmid/sounds/quenya-text.wav) ---
**Author:** ![Orual](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/779978/32.png) [@Orual](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orual)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2003, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-a-remake-of-the-hobbit/126593/35 "2003-08-28T13:11:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Qadgop the Mercotan \* > \*\*[soothing Quenya speech](http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/misc/local/TolkLang/pronmid/sounds/quenya-text.wav) \*\* So pretty… where did you find that **Qadgop**? ---
**Author:** ![atticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/cdc98d/32.png) [@atticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/atticus)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2003, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-a-remake-of-the-hobbit/126593/36 "2003-08-28T13:19:48Z")
> [@](#): > > Well after watching this, , you may never want to say the word Hobbit again. > Warning, this disgraces both The Hobbit and Star Trek. What in the heck is this? A clip from Laugh-In? (I doubt it–not that funny…) ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2003, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-a-remake-of-the-hobbit/126593/37 "2003-08-28T13:52:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BrotherCadfael \* > \*\*Pervy hobbit fancier… \*\* This may explain PJ’s not licensing _The Hobbit_: “If he tries anything Sam will kill him!” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Shiva418](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@Shiva418](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shiva418)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2003, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-a-remake-of-the-hobbit/126593/38 "2003-08-28T16:26:54Z")
No doubt, a film adaption of _The Hobbit_ would be cool, but what would be even **BETTER** would be PJ’s version of _The Silmarillion_. I can only imagine the CG spectacular that would be **ULMO**. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2003, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-a-remake-of-the-hobbit/126593/39 "2003-08-28T20:47:54Z")
Wait… Just _The Silmarillion_, or _Silmarillion: The Musical_? But I think that _The Silmarillion_ would work much better as a TV series or mini-series. Most of the indicidual tales are too short for a movie, but the whole thing together is probably too long and too episodic. Turin Turambar and Beren and Luthien would be two-parters. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2003, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-a-remake-of-the-hobbit/126593/40 "2003-08-29T01:34:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by arisu \* > \*\*So pretty… where did you find that **Qadgop**? \*\* I found the link at [ardalambion.com](http://ardalambion.com) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-a-remake-of-the-hobbit/126593.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-a-remake-of-the-hobbit/126593.md?page=3)