Hey, remember when Embracer gobbled up Middle-earth Enterprises and the rights to both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit across all forms of media Well, a new movie is now in active development as promised, and it’s about… Gollum.
This announcement (via Variety), which arrived on May 9, shouldn’t be blindsiding anyone, as Embracer had expressed active interest in developing a new batch of movies as soon as they gained control of the renowned IP. In early 2023, we learned they and New Line Cinema, who’d already handled all six previous Peter Jackson-directed epics, had joined forces to develop the new projects. Now, we also know that Peter Jackson and his creative partners are directly involved in the development of the Gollum-centric prequel tentatively titled The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum.
The traditional collaboration isn’t just bringing back Jackson as producer, as his longtime collaborators Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens are also producing and helping develop the script alongside Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou; both had co-written The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, an animated movie set to release this Christmas, before the Embracer acquisition.