Disney negotiating the LOTR rights!

tanc

Well-Known Member
I've said this elsewhere, and I'll say it here... I have no doubt a LOTR land can be beautifully done. There's potential for amazing architecture, landscape theming, etc. What I have questions about is how well the saga translates to ride material.

Whereas in the Potter universe, you have different transportation methods throughout all the stories such as flying on broomsticks, dragons, hippogriff, more broomsticks, and more creatures.... in LOTR it's mostly done all on foot, minus the barrel scene from the Hobbit trilogy, and the rare eagle encounters.
But that's part of the experience. Chapek is going to want you to venture to mount doom with your "One Magic Band" to drop it into the fires. Now, part of the journey is having to purchase water so you don't die of dehydration and of course, you get a sword to complete the experience.
 

WondersOfLife

Blink, blink. Breathe, breathe. Day in, day out.
Sure, at this point they will just use any IP in Hollywood studios.
I think that is for any of the parks at this point. The amount of Facebookers who want Indiana Jones in A.K. is scarily large. I wouldn't put it past folks to think LOTR would be a good fit there, too. Yikes.
 

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
I dunno this is super silly to me. With most IP purchases, the IP usually fits with Disney’s brand. This seems super out there. I wish they’d just use this money to negotiate with universal to get Marvel rights in Orlando. If they’re so dead set on adding ips to the park, why not add the biggest IP they currently own?
They’ve found a way to integrate Marvel as it is.

They’ve wanted a fantasy series like this for a long time. Narnia didn’t go as planned and they lost Potter’s theme park rights (and were never going to get other rights). So, this is the best remaining property unless they make their own (and that carries no guarantee of success while LotR is already popular and widely known).

Obviously, if they get the rights but can’t produce worthwhile content on Disney+, none of this will matter.
 

Phicinfan

Well-Known Member
They’ve found a way to integrate Marvel as it is.
Marvel is based on comics that most young children and young adults have already read or experienced. Not that many kids really relate to LOTRs. It is a much differing subset IMO.
They’ve wanted a fantasy series like this for a long time. Narnia didn’t go as planned and they lost Potter’s theme park rights (and were never going to get other rights). So, this is the best remaining property unless they make their own (and that carries no guarantee of success while LotR is already popular and widely known).
Don't disagree here, but still not normal Disney target area
Obviously, if they get the rights but can’t produce worthwhile content on Disney+, none of this will matter.
I figured this to be the case, this is all to develop more for D+
 

sedati

Well-Known Member
I hope they are putting their full efforts into Percy Jackson (and they do seem to be.) I didn't grow up with the books and only saw the first mediocre film, but those I know who grew up with them are fiercely excited. If handled correctly this could be huge.

Also, as said by another, "The Chronicles of Prydain" (Black Cauldron) seems one of the great untapped literary epics, perfect for big-budget long-form storytelling.

Basically, while the established names and proven successes do make sense as big money does need some sure-things, there's a real opportunity to develop the next big things. I think Willow has potential especially with so little canon to burden it with. "The Spiderwick Chronicles" is intriguing (maybe anything with "chronicles" in the title is perfect for a streaming show- don't call it "Lando," when the "Calrissian Chronicles" is right there.) The Hercules series could also be big and certainly has talent behind it. Isn't there also a "Sword in the Stone" project being written by Peter Jackson's co-writer?

So much good fantasy on the way.
 

Phicinfan

Well-Known Member
I hope they are putting their full efforts into Percy Jackson (and they do seem to be.) I didn't grow up with the books and only saw the first mediocre film, but those I know who grew up with them are fiercely excited. If handled correctly this could be huge.

Also, as said by another, "The Chronicles of Prydain" (Black Cauldron) seems one of the great untapped literary epics, perfect for big-budget long-form storytelling.

Basically, while the established names and proven successes do make sense as big money does need some sure-things, there's a real opportunity to develop the next big things. I think Willow has potential especially with so little canon to burden it with. "The Spiderwick Chronicles" is intriguing (maybe anything with "chronicles" in the title is perfect for a streaming show- don't call it "Lando," when the "Calrissian Chronicles" is right there.) The Hercules series could also be big and certainly has talent behind it. Isn't there also a "Sword in the Stone" project being written by Peter Jackson's co-writer?

So much good fantasy on the way.
I agree, if they redo Percy Jackson correctly the author also has Egyptian and Norse storylines they could expand with - Rich Riordan is the author of those
 

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
Marvel is based on comics that most young children and young adults have already read or experienced. Not that many kids really relate to LOTRs. It is a much differing subset IMO.

Don't disagree here, but still not normal Disney target area

I figured this to be the case, this is all to develop more for D+
I can’t imagine them getting the rights to use Peter Jackson’s content, and it’s pretty old now anyway, so they’d be doing it all themselves.

And if Hollywood can reboot Spider-Man and (the) Batman as often as they do, then Peter Jackson’s LotR trilogy is ancient history. Who the hell is Viggo Mortensen anymore? All I can think of is
1646409378090.gif
 

sedati

Well-Known Member
Marvel is based on comics that most young children and young adults have already read or experienced. Not that many kids really relate to LOTRs. It is a much differing subset IMO.

Don't disagree here, but still not normal Disney target area
Long ago I tried to break down what acquisitions/content belong under the Disney umbrella and what I came up with was a very basic, "Moral tales with artistic merit that can be enjoyed by a wide audience." That at least is my own thinking and I believe LOTR easily falls within that. I don't think everything needs to be "all ages." But, their younger fare should still be something an older person can sit through, and their mature fare should still have life lessons and a humane core.
 

jasminethecat

Well-Known Member
Thinking about what a ride could actually be for LOTR, i think that a GOTG style coaster track that could turn and take you through key scenes with fluctuating weather and smells could be really neat, go through the musty and refridgerated mines of moria, the sulphur and high heat of lava mordor, frozen snowy mountains, a warm and pleasant shire which smells like cut grasses. Action sequences like riding off the top of minas tirath (not on fire of course), go through any the middle of an epic battle scene (like a chase cam following the cavalry charge down the big hill at the end of the battle of helms deep with sunlight at your back) or take a corkscrew around the tower in isengard after watching the wizards battle on top and then see gandalf whisked away. Use a mix of more practical effects and video walls, and Disney has one more way to separate us from our wallets.
 

doctornick

Well-Known Member
They’ve found a way to integrate Marvel as it is.

They’ve wanted a fantasy series like this for a long time. Narnia didn’t go as planned and they lost Potter’s theme park rights (and were never going to get other rights). So, this is the best remaining property unless they make their own (and that carries no guarantee of success while LotR is already popular and widely known).

They also tried to start up an Artemis Fowl series, but man it was awful.

As mentioned, they have other things in the work that are similar to the genre of LOTR like the upcoming Willow show and the Percy Jackson series.
 

Dear Prudence

Well-Known Member
It was SPECIFICALLY written into Tolkien's will that Disney cannot own the rights.

And Amazon literally just got the rights for using on their Prime series.

So no, this is BS.

I am stuck on multiple aspects of this, least of which being going to see Snow White with his literary frenemy. Like, are y'all okay?! 😂🤣
 

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
They also tried to start up an Artemis Fowl series, but man it was awful.

As mentioned, they have other things in the work that are similar to the genre of LOTR like the upcoming Willow show and the Percy Jackson series.
I hope Percy Jackson is done well. Those movies were awful…
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom