Moving Pictures

The One Ring

THE BELCOURT THEATRE RETURNS TO MIDDLE EARTH WITH 'LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY' MARATHON

BY JOE NOLAN, FILM CRITIC

Director Peter Jackson first looked into adapting J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy stories for the big screen way back in 1995. At that time there was no reason to believe that he’d be successful when so many had been vanquished before him. William Snyder, Peter Shaffer and John Boorman had all tried and failed to bring Middle Earth to cinemas. The Beatles’ movie producer, Denis O’Dell, approached David Lean, Stanley Kubrick and Michelangelo Antonioni about Tolkien projects, and George Lucas tried to adapt The Hobbit, but he wasn’t able to secure the rights. Ralph Bakshi’s psychedelic The Lord of the Rings (1978) film featured mind-warping, rotoscope animation as well as a bewildering storyline that ended about halfway through the trilogy. The movie’s visuals are indelible, but its confusing, complicated plot doomed a planned sequel that would have completed the story.

By the 1990s The Lord of the Rings had become known as a project that could never be adapted for the big screen, but Jackson marched forward. He was able to steer his project through multiple studio deals while simultaneously leading massive teams at the now-legendary Weta Digital and Weta Workshop which had previously created effects for Jackson’s films Meet the Feebles (1989) and Heavenly Creatures (1994). Weta Digital made massive advances in motion capture technology and created software to generate intelligent digital crowds for the films’ massive battle sequences. Jackson married these breakthroughs to good old fashioned movie magic techniques like forced perspective camerawork and handcrafted, practical modeling to make his trilogy feel like lived-in historical period works instead of flimsy fantasy films. Add an all-star cast in iconic roles and a script adaptation that satisfied most of the Tolkien purists, and Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings Trilogy movies are among the best fantasy films ever made.

And this is why it’s more than a little troubling that Amazon Prime’s new The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power series is almost totally disconnected from Jackson and his definitive Tolkien films which also include The Hobbit Trilogy. In recent reports Jackson claims that he was approached to be involved in the streaming series and asked to see episode scripts which never materialized. Amazon claims that they were ultimately legally obligated to make their project completely separate from Jackson’s Middle Earth movies. I’m inclined to believe this explanation, but it’s put a chill on the Amazon project for me. When the new series — which premiers Sept. 2 — was first announced I assumed it would be making efforts to expand on Jackson’s LOTR universe. Jackson got so much about the look and feel of Middle Earth correct where so many others found only failure under the dark sway of the One Ring. Another unique successful take on Middle Earth seems more than a little unlikely. That said there is some evidence that Weta Digital and Weta Workshop are involved in the highly secretive series, which better be great with its first season production budget of nearly half a billion dollars. No pressure.

Here’s hoping that Amazon’s new prequel series can deliver some of the magic of the original movie trilogy. The Amazon show is already delivering Tolkien fans a perfect excuse to dive back into their favorite Middle Earth films, and Nashville hobbit heads are being treated to an epic movie journey with the Belcourt Theatre hosting a triple feature of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. All films will be shown in their extended cut versions, and this event is part of the Belcourt’s August/September Trilogies series.

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy Marathon played at Belcourt Aug. 28, but you can stream it on Amazon with Amazon Prime or on HBO Max.