Walt Disney

In 1938, Walt Disney considered adapting The Hobbit to animation. One of Disney's animators sent a memo suggesting that elements of The Hobbit and Richard Wagner's Ring cycle could be incorporated into Fantasia which was then in the making.^[6] According to the animator Wolfgang Reitherman, Walt Disney wanted to make a Lord of the Rings feature film in the 1950s, but his storyboard artists deemed it too complex, too lengthy, and too scary for the company.^[6] In 1972, the storyboard artist Vance Gerry pitched an animated adaptation of The Hobbit. He illustrated Bilbo, and produced a synopsis, stating that the Disney studios had "never done a cartoon with this much story", admitting that "there are far more incidents in the story than we could ever use" and that "many sections are too frightening for our purposes."^[7]

Al Brodax

In June 1956, the animator Al Brodax proposed an animated film adaptation to Tolkien's publishers. The final volume of The Lord of the Rings had only just been published in the US, and had not yet achieved the commercial success it reached later. Tolkien, nearing retirement and yet to see a substantial return from his writings, was cautiously interested, saying he would "welcome the idea" of a film, "quite apart from the glint of money",^[4] but nothing came out of it.

Forrest J. Ackerman

In 1956, Tolkien was approached by the American agent Forrest J. Ackerman about producing an animated film based on Tolkien's work for the amateur screenwriter Morton Grady Zimmerman. Ackerman showed Tolkien artwork by Ron Cobb and pitched Zimmerman's synopsis, which proposed a three-hour film with two intermissions.^[6][4] Tolkien said it was described to him as an animated film, but he professed to being ignorant of the process, and it is possible that Ackerman wished to make a primarily live-action film, using animation, stop-motion and miniature photography.^[6][8][5] Cobb scouted locations around California,^[9] impressing Tolkien with pictures of mountains and deserts.^[4]

Tolkien already had objections – Lothlórien was described to him as a fairy-castle, and he did not like the condensed story^[9] – but he liked the concept art, which he thought akin to Arthur Rackham^[10] as opposed to Walt Disney, whom he loathed. While Tolkien noted that a film "would be pleasant",^[4] he delayed in reviewing the synopsis until urged by Unwin. When he delivered his initial notes to Ackerman, the agent was granted a six-month option if he could find a producer to finance the project. He intended to make the film with American International Pictures, but its president James Nicholson declined, as did other studio heads.^[9][6]

Tolkien was sent a 55-page^[11] treatment by Zimmerman, which he greatly disliked.^[12] Keeping his own and his publisher's financial interests in mind, Tolkien was polite but largely critical of the script. He complained of divergence from not only the tone of the book (such as cutting elements "upon which [its] characteristic and peculiar tone principally depends") but also the character representation (such as Sam's leaving Frodo to Shelob and going on to Mount Doom alone). He took issue with dialogue changes as regards to the "style and sentiment" of characters, and with intercutting between the storylines of Frodo and Aragorn, instead of the interlacing in the book. He suggested eliminating the battle of Helm's Deep to better emphasize the defence of Minas Tirith, and cutting characters instead of diminishing their roles. Tolkien protested against added "incantations, blue lights, and some irrelevant magic" and "a preference for fights".^[5]

Nevertheless, Tolkien did not wish to kill the project, saying "I think [it] promised well on the pictorial side."^[13] Ackerman filed to extend his lease to a year, but he was unable to pay for the extension, and negotiations ended.^[14][5][6] The treatment was criticised by Ian Nathan,^[15] Tom Shippey^[16] and others; Kristin Thompson noted the amateur nature of the enterprise, saying that it never represented a serious attempt at a commercial film.^[8] Zimmerman, who avoided filmmaking after this ordeal,^[5] donated his script to the Tolkien collection.^[16]

Robert Gutwillig

In 1959, Tolkien entered brief negotiations with Robert Gutwillig to adapt The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien told Gutwillig he had "given a considerable amount of time and thought" to a film adaptation, noting "some ideas concerning what I think would be desirable" as well as the "difficulties" involved.^[6] Tolkien spoke with Gutwillig's agent and producer, Samuel W. Gelfman. Their discussion was apparently amicable; Tolkien found Gelfman intelligent and reasonable,^[17] and Gelfman later recalled that they talked about the details of an adaptation,^[18] but nothing came of it.^[6]

Tolkien later received a suggestion in fan-mail to have The Hobbit adapted to a serial in four intervals, declined by his publisher Rayner Unwin for its potential to "incarcerate us in the local odeons for nine or ten hours."^[6]

Rembrandt Films

In 1961, William L. Snyder negotiated the rights to adapt The Hobbit to animation for his Oscar-winning company, Rembrandt films. He leased The Hobbit for five years. Due to a mishap in the publishing of the first edition, the book was public domain in the US; Snyder renegotiated the lease to give Tolkien and Unwin only a $15,000 advance.^[8] Tolkien thought Snyder was "sure to perpetrate [...] many objectionable things"^[6] but leased the rights to the producer in 1962.^[6] Snyder commissioned cartoonist Gene Deitch to write a script for a feature-length Hobbit cartoon; this took liberties with the text, inserting a princess of Dale who undertakes the Quest and ends up married to Bilbo. Deitch was unaware of The Lord of the Rings until later, when he incorporated the concept of the Ring of Power into the Gollum (or Goloom, as he is called in the piece) episode later in the writing, making The Lord of the Rings sequel possible.^[6]

When a deal with 20th Century Fox fell through and the rights were due to expire, Snyder commissioned Deitch to quickly make a condensed film to fulfil the requirements of the contract. The deal was for an animated, colour film but did not specify length; Deitch was told to compress the story into an animated short, screened in New York in 1967 to prolong Snyder's now-valuable lease on the rights.^[8]

Deitch's film was the first onscreen depiction of any of Tolkien's works, but it was little more than a narrated picture-book; a narrator tells the 12-minute short story over a series of animation stills. It was exhibited only once, in a projection room at New York to around twelve spectators pulled from the street and provided the admission money by the exhibitors, so that they could sign a document stating that they paid to see a colour film based on The Hobbit.^[8]

Deitch stated that the extended lease included the rights to The Lord of the Rings, and that the rights to both novels were sold back to Tolkien for a higher price.^{[19][20][21][9]} However, the publisher Stanley Unwin maintains that Snyder continued to hold only the rights to The Hobbit, which were sold directly to United Artists when they secured the rights to The Lord of the Rings.^[8]

Tolkien negotiated television rights separately. Carole Ward suggested adapting The Lord of the Rings for television in 1964, to air on the newly launched BBC2. ITV launched a competing offer, according to which the book would be adapted via puppetry, which Tolkien found contemptuous. Another attempt at purchasing the television rights was made in 1968.^[22]

United Artists

Live-action fantasy became fashionable in the early 1960s with the success of Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion productions. By 1967, Gelfman established Katzka-Bernie productions with Gabriel Katzka and entered negotiations with Tolkien to adapt The Lord of the Rings for United Artists,^[6][18] "with an option for The Hobbit."^[8] As with Snyder, the emerging contracts would provide United Artists with complete creative freedom over the works, and offered them first bidding at the television rights, which were negotiated separately but never sold to them.^[23]

Meanwhile, a couple of American teenagers unsuccessfully attempted to obtain the rights to The Hobbit.^[6] Joy Hill, Tolkien's secretary who worked for Allen & Unwin, was said to have contacted Disney for the rights at the time,^[2] perhaps to place United Artists in a competitive position. MGM were said to have been interested in the rights at that time.^[24]

United Artists were the studio behind several of the lucrative widescreen epics of the decade. In the 1960s, long widescreen epics (presented as a roadshow with an intermission) still proved successful, but few sequels were made in that genre, and therefore Katzka-Bernie commissioned Sir Peter Shaffer to write a treatment for a single, three-hour film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings. This was deemed "elegant",^[25] with The Hobbit in mind as a potential prequel. Merchandising was of little concern at the time, but the rights for such products were included in the contract. Negotiations extended until 1969, when the rights were sold off for $250,000 and 7.5% of gross receipts, minus expenses, to be paid to Tolkien. Shaffer's script never got off the ground, but the rights were sold to United Artists in perpetuity, including the option to pass the rights to another studio. The singer Arlo Guthrie pitched an animated feature to the studio, but UA were adamant they wanted the film to be live-action, although the contract options an animated film.^[6]

Stanley Unwin suggested that Tolkien's inexperience in dealing with movie producers led to the generous conditions of the contract.^[8] Now elderly, Tolkien's desire to set up a trust fund for his grandchildren could indicate that he might not have expected to live and see the resulting film, and wanted to use the profits to take care of his ailing wife.^[6] The increase in income tax rates at the time decreased Tolkien's profits from book sales, and he expected a fall-off in the sales in years to come.^[26] In 1968, Tolkien expressed skepticism about film adaptation of his works, saying "it's easier to film the Odyssey".^[3]

Rankin/Bass's The Hobbit TV special (1977)

In 1972, the animators Rankin and Bass decided to adapt Tolkien's works to animation as part of their series of television specials. Rankin thought adapting the whole of Lord of the Rings was impossible, and that the audience "wouldn't sit still for it."^[58] He decided that The Hobbit would be manageable,^[59] although portions of The Lord of the Rings were optioned as a sequel given pressure from the network. At $2 million to produce, the special would prove the costliest made up to that time;^[6] it starred John Huston, a fan of the book, as Gandalf.^[60]

They contacted the Tolkien Estate, who declined, but Rankin pointed out that the books were public domain in the US.^[61][58] The Estate, along with Saul Zaentz who had purchased the film rights, tried to stop the production through a lawsuit, but it instead "became authorized through a series of settlement agreements" which allowed the special to air in Canada, where the books were not public domain.^[62]

The making of the special was announced in April 1973 by Tomorrow Entertainment.^[63] The designs were done by Rankin, Bass and several Japanese animators working in the United States. Lester Abrams sent Rankin 20 character designs after Rankin and Bass liked his work on an excerpt of Tolkien for Children's Digest. He was brought on board again later in the production to help illustrate the Dwarves – basing Thorin on concept art for Disney's Grumpy. He drew Gollum as a corrupted Hobbit, but Rankin insisted that he be made more ferocious.^[32] Romeo Muller was employed to write the teleplay. His first draft tried to encompass the whole of the story, plus a setup for The Lord of the Rings at the end. Rankin had him pare it down, and at one point wanted to cut out the spiders, but was talked out of it by Lester. Beorn was "sacrificed" to keep the Spiders.^[32][64]

The television special received mixed reactions. In 1978, Muller won a Peabody Award for the teleplay. The film was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, but lost to Star Wars.^[65] Douglas A. Anderson, a Tolkien scholar, called the adaptation "execrable" in his introduction to the Annotated Hobbit.^[66] Ian Nathan considers it "regrettable" and "twee."^[67]

Ralph Bakshi's The Lord of the Rings (1978)

In 1957, Ralph Bakshi sought the rights for an animated version,^[69] aiming to make a Tolkienesque fantasy film "in the American idiom"; this led to the 1977 animation Wizards. After Tolkien's death in 1973, Bakshi started an "annual trip" to Medavoy, proposing that United Artists produce The Lord of the Rings as two or three animated films,^[47] with a Hobbit prequel.^[13] Medavoy offered him Boorman's script, which Bakshi refused, saying that Boorman "didn't understand it" and that his script would have made for a cheap product like "a Roger Corman film".^[70] He later called the Rankin-Bass TV special an "awful, sell-out version of The Hobbit."^[71] Medavoy did not want to produce Bakshi's film, but allowed him to shop it around to other studios.^[70]

In 1976, Bakshi and Dan Melnick, then-president of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, purchased the film rights from United Artists for $3 million, and Bakshi started pre-production and writing; he enlisted Chris Conkling to research the script. With $200,000 spent, Melnick was fired from MGM.^[47] Bakshi persuaded Saul Zaentz to produce The Lord of the Rings.^[47] Zaentz had recently produced the Academy Award-winning adaptation of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, distributed by United Artists, and agreed to buy the project. UA stayed as the distributors. Zaentz was only able to offer a humble budget of $8 million.^[70] Since Bakshi was primarily interested in Tolkien's more adult-oriented novel, Zaentz's Fantasy Films procured the rights to The Lord of the Rings as well as the rights for The Hobbit. The rights to distribute the prequel remained with United Artists. Bakshi later clarified that he thought the film could "make some money" to save his studio after the commercial failure of his previous film, Coonskin.^[72]

With Conkling, Bakshi considered how to divide the story. They contemplated a three-film structure, but "we didn't know how that middle film would work".^[32] Conkling started writing a single three-and-a-half hour feature of the entire work, but eventually settled on two two-and-a-half hour films. At one point, the story was to be told in flashback by Merry and Pippin to Treebeard as a setup for the second film, tentatively set to be released in 1980. Early drafts by Conkling included Farmer Maggot, Tom Bombadil, the Old Forest, Glorfindel, Arwen, and several songs.^[11] Conkling's work was deemed unsatisfactory by Bakshi and Zaentz, who brought in Peter S. Beagle to do rewrites. He insisted on a complete overhaul, and wrote a version which began at Bilbo's Farewell Party, contining until Saruman's death, while Frodo and Sam left Cirith Ungol. This was abbreviated in later revisions to create a two-and-a-half hour film.^[32] The final revisions overlapped with the voice recording in London, accounting for inconsistencies like the spelling of "Saruman" (originally changed to Aruman to avoid confusion with Sauron) in the film. Bakshi constantly revised the story at the behest of anxious fans.^[73]

Bakshi was approached by Mick Jagger^[70] and David Carradine^[34] for roles in the film. Carradine even suggested that Bakshi do it in live-action, but Bakshi said it could not be done and that he had "always seen it as animation."^[47]

Bakshi went to England to recruit a voice cast from the BBC Drama Repertory Company, including Christopher Guard, William Squire, Michael Scholes, Anthony Daniels, and John Hurt. Bakshi then shot character actors playing to the recording in empty soundstages, rotoscoping the performances.^[70] Bakshi later regretted his use of rotoscoping, stating that he made a mistake by tracing the source footage rather than using it as a guide.^[74] Live-action footage for crowd scenes was shot in Death Valley and in Spain.^[70] To cut costs, cinematographer Timothy Galfas suggested solarizing the crowd scenes rather than fully rotoscoping them, to create a pseudo-animated look. The film was animated in the United States by Bakshi's studio. Bakshi had only four weeks to edit the film, of which little was reportedly left on the cutting room floor. The whole project from pitch to release lasted about two years.^[8]

Arthur Krim was replaced at United Artists by Andy Albeck, who objected to marketing the film as the first of two parts. After test screenings, it was decided to switch the last two sequences, so that the film would not end on the cliffhanger of Frodo and Sam being led into a trap by Gollum. The film was released without any indication that a second part would follow, over Bakshi's objections.^[47][75] Rated PG, it was the longest animated film made at the time, and cost $8–12 million^[49] to produce; it grossed $30.5 million at the box office.^[76] However, the sum did not tempt the studio into making a sequel,^[47] and merchandise and VHS sales were not promising. The film won the Golden Gryphon at the 1980 Giffoni Film Festival,^[77] but critical reaction was mixed; Roger Ebert called Bakshi's effort a "mixed blessing" and "an entirely respectable, occasionally impressive job ... [which] still falls far short of the charm and sweep of the original story."^[78] Peter Jackson described the film's second half as "incoherent" and confusing.^[79]

Work began on a sequel, and Bakshi and Zaentz tried to stop Rankin and Bass from airing the Lord of the Rings television special to avoid overlap with their film, but fearing a fall-off in revenue from the sequel, the studio would only sign-off on a budget half that of the first film, which led the already disheartened Bakshi to argue with Zaentz and quit.^{[49][32][80][46][81]} In 2000, Bakshi was still toying with making part two with Zaentz.^{[82][83][84][85]}

The BBC's 1981 radio adaptation recruited veterans of Bakshi's voice cast, Michael Graham Cox and Peter Woodthorpe, to reprise their roles (Boromir and Gollum, respectively) from the film.^[86] Sir Ian Holm voiced Frodo.^[86]

Rankin/Bass's Return of the King TV special (1980)

In 1980, Rankin/Bass more or less completed what Bakshi had started with their own animated adaptation of The Return of the King,^[87] based on the concepts previously applied to their The Hobbit. Contrary to reports that the film was made following the failure of Bakshi's film, it was already in pre-production before Rankin/Bass released The Hobbit.^[59] Zaentz and Bakshi sued Rankin and Bass to prevent the television special from airing, but were unsuccessful.^[88] Rankin/Bass first titled the film Frodo: The Hobbit II, but as part of their settlement with Tolkien's estate, it was renamed The Return of the King, with the subtitle "A Story of Hobbits".^[89] In retrospect, Rankin expressed regret over the unsuccessful television special, saying "we shouldn't have made it."^[90]

Peter Jackson's film series

Jackson brought Middle-earth to the big screen in six live-action feature films released by Warner Bros. Jackson pitched the idea of adapting The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit to Miramax in 1995. He had seen Bakshi's Lord of the Rings in 1978, enjoyed it, and "wanted to know more",^[33] reading a tie-in version of the book and listening to the 1981 BBC radio adaptation. Assuming that it would be made into a live-action film, he read about previous attempts to adapt the work – by Boorman, Kubrick and Lean – but did not know what was myth and what was not at the time.^[105] He watched and enjoyed the fantasy films and space operas of the 1980s. He later read Tolkien's letters and learned that Forrest Ackerman, who appeared in Jackson's Bad Taste, had tried to make a film.^[105]

While he was aware that "three films would obviously be the more natural way to do"^[106] The Lord of the Rings, and that The Hobbit would better be split across two films,^[107] he made a more modest offer of a trilogy: one film based on The Hobbit which, if successful, would be followed by two Lord of the Rings instalments, released six months apart. Although Jackson and Walsh re-read The Hobbit and commissioned their workshop at WETA for some concept art, the rights to The Hobbit proved difficult because they were split between Zaentz and United Artists. Harvey Weinstein tried to purchase them from the studio, but was unsuccessful.^[108]

It was decided to move ahead with The Lord of the Rings, leaving The Hobbit as a possible prequel. Jackson insisted on making two films;^[106][109] the Weinsteins "blanched"^[106] but agreed. While filming, Jackson told Elijah Wood he was not interested in directing The Hobbit, but during post-production on The Two Towers, spoke more enthusiastically of it with the composer Howard Shore.^[110] Jackson also later made remarks about potential spinoff films^[111] and even half-joking remarks about television spin-off shows.^[112]

Middle-earth: Shadow of War – Friend or Foe (2017)

In September 2017, Neil Huxley directed a series of interactive short films titled Middle-earth: Shadow of War – Friend or Foe, in promotion for the then-upcoming action role-playing video game of the same name, developed by Monolith Productions, published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, and serving as a sequel to 2014's Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor.^[137] Set between both games and Peter Jackson's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings film trilogies, Friend or Foe continues the previous game's narrative, of the story of Talion, the Gondorian Ranger who bonded with the wraith of the Elf Lord Celebrimbor, as they forge a new Ring of Power to amass an army to fight against Sauron.^[138] The stunt performer Ashley Beck portrays Talion/Celebrimbor in the films, replacing Troy Baker from the games, while actors Steve Lewington and Spencer Wilding portray orcs.^{[137][139][140]}

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (2024)

In June 2021, New Line announced an anime prequel about Helm Hammerhand, a legendary King of Rohan, set some 250 years before the events of The Lord of the Rings. Kenji Kamiyama will direct the film, titled The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim. The script is by Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews, with Philippa Boyens consulting.^[141]

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022– )

Amazon bought the television rights for The Lord of the Rings for US$250 million in November 2017, making a five-season production commitment worth at least US$1 billion. This would make it the most expensive television series ever made. The series is primarily based on the appendices of The Lord of the Rings, which include discussion of the Second Age, and it features a large cast from around the world. For legal reasons, it is not a direct continuation of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film trilogies, but the production is intended to evoke the films with similar production design and younger versions of the same incarnations of characters who appear in them. The season premiered on Prime Video on September 2, 2022.^{[142][143][144]}