How would ‘The Silmarillion’ fare as a film trilogy?

http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2014/02/20/86929-how-would-the-silmarillion-fare-as-a-film-trilogy/

https://www.facebook.com/TheOneRingnet/posts/10106028175654554

"It’s the film project that many of us fear we may never see. "

Forumshire version:

"It’s the film project that many of us fear we may see."

Damn right!  

Ringdrotten wrote:"It’s the film project that many of us fear we may never see. "

Forumshire version:

"It’s the film project that many of us fear we may see."

Yes   

Im adding my vote on that, NO to the Sil

This being said, in a scenario that a Silmarillion film – or series of films – were to be made, would they even work as movies? Would they stand the test of the general movie-going audience? How would it translate to the big screen? Could it be translated to the big screen? This article will explore the possibilities and pitfalls of translating The Silmarillion into film by looking at a potential treatment of the films and a brief analysis of the text itself.

I dunno, but the answer for The Hobbit seems to be "no".

Anyway, I've been saying this for years, but a trilogy is not nearly enough for The Silmarillion. I mean, look at this guy's idea: he wants to end the first film with the start of the Noldor's wars with Morgoths and then summarize the next 200 years and numerous conflicts into the prologue of the second film. Then he wants to condense The Children of Hurin and The Ruin of Doriath and The Fall of Gondolin and the voyages of Earendil and the War of Wrath into a single film.

The scale of these films would require ridiculous budgets, which I’m not quite sure studios would regain in the long-term. I would hate to see Tolkien movies increasingly fail at box offices and begin to mar the glory and success that was LOTR. Could these stories work better in a TV series like Game of Thrones? Only with a lot of invention and character building that simply isn’t there in the text, resulting in purist hatred. It really does seem to me that The Silmarillion, realistically, is unfilmable. As amazing as it would be to see these stories realised, I think these are stories best left to the imagination!

Well The Hobbit hasn't been a failure, but it's already marring the "glory" of the LOTR films. And this guy is kidding himself if he thinks that the films would work without adding a ton of material that wasn't in the books. If you don't do that, you're gonna end up with a nine hour-long montage of with voiceover narration, because that's basically what the book gives us with only a few exceptions (since it's written as a summary of myths).

My thoughts on a Silmarillion film:

                                                        

I think that sums it up Malick   
And this is how Il feel if it all goes bad     

I'm so sick of people asking this question, or even talking about the subject in general.

Maybe we should campaign against it.   

And besides, the whole story's in the Appendices anyway, right?  

 

David H wrote:And besides, the whole story's in the Appendices anyway, right?  

Actually I'm pretty sure there's at least as much about The Silmarillion (especially if one includes the Akallabeth, but even if you don't) in the Appendices than there is about The Hobbit.

If the Hobbit franchise remains strong, I'm betting WB will sooner or later try to launch an Isildur brand. I can't help suspecting that keeping that door open for the future is what all the Appendix talk and the Sauron scenes in TH are really all about. And legally, I don't think there's anything the Tolkien estate could do about it....

Sad, but true.

I think a young Aragorn/Arwen series (again it's all in the Appendices...) and a Tauriel spin off are likely candidates, to be frank if any of those three cases I don't give a damn either way-it's 'fan' fiction (though Jackson and co seem bigger fans of Hollywood convention than Tolkien's writing...) so why get worked up about it? Who knows could be a good film (or an overblown CGI mess of a trilogy...) but I really can't see a decent story thread to tie them together, it would just be more of the same, I think a bit of ME fatigue might set in come 2015.

It would be interesting to see what would happen if WB did try and make a Silmarillion film based on the sparse references in LOTR-ignoring the life threatening explosion of crabbit fire caused by Petty's likely reaction, I can't see the Tolkien estate remaining placcid on this one.

I don't think they'd try to make a Silmarillion film without the rights to the book, but I could be wrong.  I think the chances for a spin-off film based on some obscure bit of backstory are a lot more likely.  Warner Bros. is apparently going to make a feature film based on Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them of all things, so anything is possible.  We already saw how the fan film guys did it, so we know how to put together a screenplay that is actually based on the Appendices.  I think the most interesting question is whether PJ would be involved with such a project.  That would likely effect its "legitimacy" in the eyes of fans and possibly its box office potential, since they wouldn't get to use the "from the director..." tag line.  It was a hard enough decision for PJ to come back for The Hobbit, and after saying goodbye a second time I dunno if he'd want to come back just for half-measures.  But even if PJ is involved, it would probably be seen as not a real Tolkien movie anyway, sort of like how no treated The Clone Wars as a real Star Wars movie.

Of course, there is a third option in addition to The Silmarillion and spin-offs, and that is rebooting the franchise.  I'm not sure they'd try that anytime soon, though it's pretty much inevitable in the long run.  The Spider-Man series was rebooted after only five years, but superheroes have been reinvented and reinterpreted for decades.  I think there's a different attitude towards something like LOTR which has a more solid identity.

The reason I've been wondering about an Isildur prequel for some time is that
1) His story is already inserted throughout PJ's LotR,  
2) all the so called "foreshadowing" of the Ring and Sauron that was added after- the-fact to TH when it went to 3 parts makes a lot more sense if it's viewed as a connective thread to an earlier story, possibly starting with the forging of the Rings, making one continuous story arc.
[Oh and 3) PJ can't resist a story that ends in a giant battle!    ]

As to who would direct such a hypothetical film, I'm thinking Jackson's name would be on the poster in big letters, but probably as Executive Producer or some such like Coppola did after Godfather.  It would be better for everybody if some new talent did the directorial grunt work.

I don't know about the reboot idea. I'll have to think on that, but I agree it seems unlikely for now.

Anyway, that's just all idle rambling.... It's not going to happen, right?
RIGHT? 

You sir are making too much sense for my liking   

In the film industry there is ALWAYS room for a story. There is always another director, producer, line backer, guy with money & enthusiasm, someone who thinks he can 'see' into the future. Imagination cannot be curved, creativity cannot be stemmed. Some peoples thirst cannot be quenched & will go raging ahead. Im with Dave on this, Ive got an icky feeling, & my icky feelings havent let me down...yet ?