On a first quarter earnings call, which took place on Thursday morning, Warner Bros CEO David Zaslav announced a new ‘Lord of the Rings’ movie “now in the early stages of script development”, which he says they “anticipate releasing in 2026” and will “explore storylines yet to be told.”
THR has learned that the film will be titled “Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum,” with Andy Serkis set to star and direct the film. Peter Jackson is onboard as producer. Jackson and his longtime writing partners Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens “will be involved every step of the way.” Boyens and Walsh will write the screenplay. The deal is for two films to be released.
The first three ‘Lord of the Rings’ movies, directed by Jackson, garnered immense praise and were commercial behemoths. Each installment ended up with a slew of Oscar nominations, including a Best Picture win for 2003’s ‘The Return of the King.’ Jackson followed those up with a trilogy of ‘Hobbit’ movies, which were less successful and put the movie franchise in hibernation.
Jackson hasn’t directed a feature film since 2014’s “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies”. He made a ton of money off of the ‘Lords of the Rings’ franchise and is now living off of those riches. If anything, Jackson has actually turned into a documentary filmmaker. I highly recommend his 2019 WWI effort “They Shall Never Grow Old.” An absolute stunning piece of work.
Edward Berger seems to have settled on what comes next. His Lance Armstrong biopic, starring Austin Butler, is now holding casting calls, with production eyed for January.