I think there's room for some really interesting films still left in the old IP-horse yet. Some ways I can think to still flog it:If they can get the rights to Tolkien's other writings, especially his "great tales" (Children of Hurin, Beren and Luthien, the Fall of Gondolin), there are some good movies to be made. If they can't, and they're stuck respinning the same 50 pages of the LotR appendices endlessly, then it would be better just to leave it alone.
I mean I personally think that Middle Earth's storytelling appeal is limited, but I don't think people are saying that there's no room for other stories. More that there's no room for stories that aren't from the mind of JRR Tolkien.If there is no room for other stories in the world of the supposed paragon of worldbuilding does that not suggest that we misjudged how deep the world was somewhere along the way?
I don't think it's that the depth has been misjudged. The world-building is deep and wide and intricate but most importantly was already used to tell THE STORY OF STORIES! for that particular setting. Anything that fits into the world must be of small scale and scope and that doesn't gel well with the Hollywood EVEN MORE WOWIE ZOWIE! template that's going to be used to produce material that's always-already going to be some photocopy of the originals (in this case the books and the first trilogy).If there is no room for other stories in the world of the supposed paragon of worldbuilding does that not suggest that we misjudged how deep the world was somewhere along the way?
Maybe they could tell a story about the history of Gondor. Surely, over thousands of years, there must have been (other) people who questioned the system of "stewards" and why they were waiting for a "king" . Maybe they could explore how that fell through, perhaps with reference to the difficulty of change while existing next to an ever-present threat.
Or something along those lines.
Or maybe just actually try to explore East-Earth or South-Earth instead of sticking to Middle-Earth.
Yeah I agree, but I also think the general casual fan base are a problem too, because they've seen it before, and this'll just be more of the same. At least with the new D&D movie it's a "fast-paced, irreverant take on the fantasy genre with screwball dialogue and characters you can relate to" which is a break from the tone and tropes set by the LotR and Hobbit movies.Considering Amazon's foray into making one I'd be leery of them. It's really hard to be succesful with a rabid fan base when you make something new.