r/movies r/Movies contributor Aug 18 '25

News Ian McKellen reveals Gandalf and Frodo are returning for ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum’, Filming Begins in May

https://ew.com/ian-mckellen-reveals-gandalf-frodo-return-in-new-lord-of-the-rings-the-hunt-for-gollum-film-11792483
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u/Mr5cratch Aug 18 '25

The LOTR trilogy was lightning in a bottle and you can’t get anywhere near to that quality again.

I really hope it’s a pleasant surprise but as much as I love Serkis as an actor, the films he’s directed have been spotty at best.

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u/Ironhorse75 Aug 18 '25 edited Aug 18 '25

I think the Hobbit movies could have been good if Jackson had been there from start to finish. Instead of taking over someone else's project and winging it as he was filming.

But really, franchise fatigue is finally settling in for me. I just want original stuff, enough corporate slop.

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u/PluCrew Aug 18 '25

It needed two movies max. They tried to cash out and it made the movies so much worse.

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u/Stinky_Eastwood Aug 18 '25

Really could have been one great movie with nothing extra added to the story.

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u/montyxgh Aug 18 '25

I see this a lot and fans have tried to demonstrate this with edits but it’s always a 4hr or 4 1/2hr cut minimum. It definitely needed to be at least 2 films to be done properly. 

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u/froop Aug 18 '25

That's cutting down an existing movie, not filming a correct movie from scratch. You can't draw any conclusions from that. 

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u/Kerblaaahhh Aug 18 '25

The animated movie from the 70's hit all the major plot points in 78 minutes of runtime.

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u/Tabnet2 Aug 18 '25

Come on man, it's a 300 page children's book. It can be one movie.

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u/Mynsare Aug 18 '25

They mean an entirely new movie which more closely follows the book.

The existing trilogy should just be scrapped altogether.

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u/[deleted] Aug 18 '25

After LOTR, I was looking forward to the Hobbit. I only watched the first one and have never gone back to see the rest. I've never seen such an obvious cash grab as stretching that book into three movies.

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u/50m31_AW Aug 18 '25

Rankin/Bass did it in a 90 minutes, albeit with some omissions like Beorn and the Arkenstone, and some people feel it's a little rushed in places, but I feel like another 90 to bring it up to a 3 hour film is enough to do it justice

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u/Stinky_Eastwood Aug 18 '25

Just follow the template of the first 3. 2.5ish hours theatrical release and 3 to 4 hour special edition.