Jackson's plan brought about a better adaptation of The Hobbit, but could have ruined the Lord of the Rings trilogy
Peter Jackson was heavily criticized for The Hobbit trilogy
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Peter Jackson consolidated itself in the film industry by adapting the novels of The Lord of the rings on the big screen. The director changed the genre forever, brilliantly capturing the Tolkien narrationwhich today is one of the best known fantasy stories of the seventh art. Jackson needed to find a studio that would support his idea, at a time when this style of movies didn't usually work very good.
The Lord of the Rings is still the biggest fantasy franchise
Peter Jackson didn't have much experience as a director of large productions, so making a trilogy was a big risk and many did not have confidence in the filmmaker. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) was a success imminent at the box office and served as a precedent for the other two titles that would be released in 2002 and 2003.
When the arrival of a new Jackson trilogy adapting the book of The Hobbit, expectations were set high. The truth is that it meant another great success raising almost 3,000 million dollarsbut the review wasn't so good like the one that received the original trilogy. The story content of The Hobbit, written by JRR Tolkien, was much less extensive than that of The Lord of the Rings, but Jackson decided to extend the book into three parts. just like he had done the first time.
Cover of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)
This meant a increase in content what It was filled with characters and scenes that had never been told. by Tolkien, which was highly criticized by the author's fans. Jackson added a lot of material that was not captured in the book, such as the inclusion of Christopher Lee playing Saruman, in order to make three films. Nevertheless, This was not the director's initial plan. regarding the story of The Hobbit, and that is Your original idea would have solved a lot of the problems that brought the trilogy.
Jackson's plan brought about a better adaptation of The Hobbit, but could have ruined the Lord of the Rings trilogy
Before making the Lord of the Rings films with New Line Cinema, Jackson had presented his project to Harvey Weinstein of Miramax Films. The proposed idea included start with a single movie that would condense the story from The Hobbit and, if it worked at the box office, continue with two films about the novels of The Lord of the rings. Weinstein accepted the idea but refused to produce more than two filmsso The Lord of the Rings also had to be captured in the length of a film.
Peter Jackson directed The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies
Jackson would not agree to shorten the story of The Lord of the Rings so much, so ended up collaborating with New Line Cinema, who was especially interested in a trilogy that would tell the story of the destruction of the One Ring. Therefore, Jackson He settled for starting with The Lord of the Ringsa decision he would not regret.
The truth is starting with The Hobbit in one movie would probably have fixed the errors that prevented him from succeeding a decade later, but It would also have posed the risk that the Lord of the Rings films would never be filmed.. Despite Jackson's mastery at directing, the reality is that The Hobbit novel does not include the intense darkness, deep characters, and epic battles that we do see in The Lord of the Rings.
Peter Jackson on the set of The Lord of the Rings
These are the main elements that succeeded in the Lord of the Rings films, so We will never know if The Hobbit would have stood out enough to give way to the arrival of more Tolkien stories in the cinema. Now, we are still waiting to confirm if Peter Jackson will participate in the next films of the franchise that will come from Warner Bros. and They promise to live up to it.
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