The Lord of the Rings has been a part of Peter Jackson’s life for decades. While he’s spent much of the last few years focused on making and remastering Beatles documentaries, he’s never been too far from Middle-earth, and the director of all the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies says he wants to go back at least one more time.
All three Lord of the Rings films are being re-released in theaters this weekend to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the launch of the franchise. Speaking with Empire on the occasion, Jackson says there is one more LOTR project he’d like to do, a full behind-the-scenes documentary on the production of the trilogy. He said:
The footage contains alternative takes, it contains bloopers, it contains a bit more of a sense of the mechanics of making the films. But to this day, I haven’t persuaded [the studio], because obviously it’s a big undertaking.
The production of The Lord of the Rings was unlike anything the movie industry has seen before or since. It was massive, with pre-production for all three films being handled at once, and filming for all three movies being handled simultaneously. Considering how unique a production it was, a film that shows that would almost certainly be incredible, and something fans would love to see.
However, as Jackson points out, the undertaking of a documentary would likely be almost as herculean a task as the movies themselves. Sifting through literally years of footage to put something together would be a lot of work. And a documentary to give that production justice would probably be at least as long as all three Lord of the Rings movies themselves.
Speaking of, check out the trailer below for the theatrical re-releases.
It’s maybe not a shock that the studio is a little gunshy at the idea. A production like that would be expensive, and while a lot of people would love to see it, it probably wouldn’t make a great deal of money. If such a film, or more likely films, were released in theaters, only the true diehards would buy tickets. It would almost certainly blow up on streaming, but would people buy an HBO Max subscription just to watch it?
We are getting more Lord of the Rings movies, of course. Jackson is producing The Hunt for Gollum, starring and being directed by Andy Serkis, which will likely have other Lord of the Rings stars as well. More movies are planned after that. While none of them is a massive documentary, perhaps, if these new films are successful, Jackson can talk the studio into that movie after all.