A few days ago a new “Lord of the Rings” film was announced that would revolve around Gollum. But 15 years earlier, fans released a very similar film on YouTube. That’s why there were now legal problems.
What film is it about? A few days ago, the film studio Warner Bros. announced a new feature film in the universe of “The Lord of the Rings”. After the Amazon series “The Rings of Power,” whose second season has already been announced, “The Hunt for Gollum” will open another chapter in the Middle-earth saga.
We don’t know much about the upcoming film yet. Just that the story will revolve around Gollum. The film presumably functions as a prologue to “The Fellowship of the Ring,” telling how various characters and groups chase after the creature Gollum. His escape may also lead him to Mordor, where he is captured by Sauron’s henchmen.
Peter Jackson is once again on board as producer, having already directed the three films in the main series and the Hobbit films. This time in the director’s chair is none other than Andy Serkis, who played Gollum back then.
What’s curious about the announcement: A film with a similar premise has been freely available on YouTube for 15 years.
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Fans had the same idea 15 years ago
What’s the deal with the fan film? A group of enthusiastic fans of Tolkien’s works made a film about Gollum 15 years ago. The budget was correspondingly small, only around 3,000 British pounds (as of 2009).
It was shot in Wales and there were only six actors in front of the camera. Among other things, they embodied well-known characters such as Aragorn, Gandalf and Arwen. Another 160 volunteers support the project by acting as extras or helping behind the scenes.
What ended up being a 39-minute film was appropriately named The Hunt for Gollum.
You can watch the film here:
If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll have noticed that both the fan project and the official film have exactly the same title. But that’s not the only curious aspect of this story.
Because after the fan film was able to live on YouTube for several years and collected 13 million views during that time, the creative minds behind it have now, in 2024, run into legal problems.
What happened? Just hours after the announcement of the official Gollum film, the fan project was blocked on YouTube. The reason: The video would contain content from Warner Bros. Entertainment and it would have been removed from the platform for copyright infringement.
As expected, there was a huge outcry in the community. The fact that Warner blocked the project from passionate fans, but at the same time announced a film with the same title and premise, was met with incomprehension.
But the story ended well in the end. The fan film is now online again and can be viewed without restrictions. It remains to be seen how the official film will differ. We will know this from 2026, when “The Hunt for Gollum” comes to cinemas. But the iconic character didn’t bring happiness to everyone: for a German game developer, their Gollum game was a big flop.