Start, cast and everything we know about The Hunt for Gollum

Produced by Peter Jackson and directed by Andy Serkis, a new Lord of the Rings film is in the works: The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for GollumHere we will collect everything you need to know about the new Middle Earth project until the launch and inform you about:

When does the new Lord of the Rings movie about Gollum start?

A specific release date for the cinematic adventure has not yet been announced, but a time frame has been announced: Gollum’s Lord of the Rings film is set to in 2026 Based on the previous Middle Earth cinema releases, a Christmas release is again likely.

As early as February 2023, news spread around the world that several new Lord of the Rings live-action films were being planned. Speculation as to which well-known Middle-earth characters would return only came to a temporary end in May 2024, when a new Gollum film announced became.

The Hunt of Gollum has nothing to do with the Amazon series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power or the anime cinema adventure The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (2024), even though all of the stories are set in the world of fantasy author JRR Tolkien. The Gollum film is the first of two planned new films that will take us back to Middle Earth. However, nothing more is known about the second one.

Plot: What is The Hunt for Gollum about?

When does the Gollum movie take place?

Although no official plot or time frame has been announced, the working title Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum already reveals the core of the new story. After Sméagol “found” Isildur’s treasure in the river and murdered his friend for it, no one knew that he owned the ring. The situation only escalates later. The new film will probably be between Bilbo’s birthday and Frodo’s departure for Rivendell play, parallel to the beginning of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

What is Gollum’s Lord of the Rings movie about?

Only after Golllum loses Sauron’s ring to Bilbo and Gandalf about the creature, the wizard sends Aragorn searches for Gollum: out of fear of what the previous ring bearer could tell the enemy in Mordor about the hobbit. Gollum has meanwhile actually heard about Bilbo’s return to the Shire in the town of Dale at the Lonely Mountain, but heads towards Mordor, where he befriends the spider Shelob and finally caught and tortured by Sauron becomes (“Baggins! Shire!”).

The outcome of the story is well known: Sauron learns from Gollum that the new hobbit owner of his missing instrument of power is the same as Bilbo Baggins, although it had since passed from Bilbo Baggins to Frodo Baggins. In Tolkien’s story, Aragorn finds Gollum a short time later and leaves him in the care of the Wood Elves in Mirkwood, where Gandalf interrogates him (and thus learns of the imminent threat) before Gollum escapes again.

Peter Jackson further commented on the film’s content:

We want [Gollums] backstory and delve into the parts of his journey for which we in the earlier films had no time. It’s too early to say who will cross his path, but we’ll take a cue from Professor Tolkien.

After the end of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies mentioned a ranger in the north whom Legolas wanted to visit, a younger Aragorn could become a key cast member in the new Gollum film. But will we see characters like Gandalf again?

Cast & Crew: Who is involved in the Gollum movie?

The rights holders of the Embracer Group and the studios Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema joined forces again for the production of the Tolkien Middle Earth film. The New Zealand effects studio WETA is also back on board. Other creatives from the Lord of the Rings world also returned behind the camera:

No stars have been announced for the cast of the Lord of the Rings spin-off. The only exception is: Andy Serkis will once again slip into the motion capture suit to, after his four previous appearances (the three Lord of the Rings films and the first Hobbit adventure), to embody Gollum again.

Whether actors like Ian McKellen (Gandalf), Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn), Arwen (Liv Tyler), Legolas (Orlando Bloom) or Thranduil (Lee Pace) will return or, if they do appear in the characters, will be replaced by younger stars is still up in the air.

Lord of the Rings filming, pictures, trailers and more

Currently, The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum is in the script development stage. However, it has already been announced that the film return to the New Zealand filming location There will most likely be no significant insight into the production before 2025, when filming is expected to start.

Opinions and controversies about the new Lord of the Rings film

Lord of the Rings fans reacted in a divided manner to the first news of a Gollum film. While some were immediately interested, others denounced the choice of topic as uninteresting and worn out for producing fanfiction instead of finding new creative avenues. Is the Lord of the Rings franchise clinging too much to the old?

Additional attention was drawn to the fact that a There is already a 39-minute fan film called The Hunt for GollumIt was produced in 2009 for 5000 US dollars, but was briefly removed from YouTube after the announcement of the cinema project of the same name. This caused an outcry from fans, so that the work could be reinstated after the legal situation was secured (non-profit-oriented).

Peter Jackson’s three Lord of the Rings films together accounted for almost 3 billion US dollars worldwide, the Hobbit trilogy about the same amount. 17 Oscar wins (out of 31 nominations) enhanced the fantasy universe. Whether the Gollum film can build on this will be seen in 2026.

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