Embracer enters into agreement to acquire The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit IP | Hacker News Reader

Embracer enters into agreement to acquire The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit IP

embracer.com

61 pointsdoppp135 comments

"Other opportunities include exploring additional movies based on iconic characters such as Gandalf, Aragorn, Gollum, Galadriel, Eowyn and other characters from the literary works of J.R.R. Tolkien"

Please, don't.

Imagine a Gandalf origin story where he's running, jumping, punching and kicking orcs?

Sam: This is it.

Frodo: This is what?

Sam: If I take one more step, it'll be the farthest away from Tolkien I've ever been.

Don't forget swinging on wires! Maybe throw in Gandalf surfing over the shields of the orcs? Don't forget running across a bridge while it crumbles away behind him! Make sure to have the hungry monster signal its presence with roars and snarls before charging its prey.

Except that isn't Gandalf's origin story. He's literally an immortal angel in human form, sent by the supreme creator to help mortals oppose Sauron. Gandalf intentionally chose the form of an old man to be humble.

"Our famous director delved deep into the ideas embodied in a mysterious wizard trope and reinvented them in a way easier to immerse in for modern audiences." Or something like that; don't let a couple nerd fans dictate some minutia of how to make films that earn actual monies, which we know much better! And we don't need read no books when there's extensive visual material already available!

Careful, you are gatekeeping!!!

An inclusive and safe community should celebrate the Marvel-ification of the LotR universe ;-)

So you're saying it's well within realm of the lore for the immortal angel sent by the all-powerful diety to take the form of a young, fit hollywood celebrity and kick the face of orcs as part of a three part imax trilogy? Actually, and I don't want to annoy too many people, but with this context, I think they should go all out and make Gandalf team up with other angels in the form of butt kicking women, a fantasy charlies angels, where Charlie is the diety. I doubt angels in that lore have gender anyway.

The thing is, that could be a great trilogy. The issue is it just isn't Tolkien. Which would be fine, if they marketed it as something completely different. In that case though, it'd be pretty jarring to reconcile the Tolkien law with whatever crazy action they come up with and you'd have to wonder why they would bother even using Tolkien's material except, cynically, for name and brand recognition as a path to massive amounts of money.

Instead of the Charlie's Angels speakerphone, giving out assignments for the team, you've got the palantir... and it's canon already!

Well, there's some of that in Silmarillion I think?

Not visible - he probably took part in the last battle against Morgoth, but that was as one of the many, many Maia that also took part.

Istari are sent after the events of Silmarillion end, after War of the Ring.

You're probably quite right. I might mis-remember and/or mix up with Unfinished Tales.

https://www.silmarillionwritersguild.org/reference/character...

The prequel back-flipping Yoda version. This all sounds horrible but at least it will give RLM something to tear apart.

"The Adventures of Young Gandalf"

Fantastic Wizards, and where to find them.

Gandalf the gay, a 2022 commentary on the Mædieval fundamentalism still persisting in the West.

Imagine a Gandalfina origin story where she’s running, jumping, punching and kicking orcs!

Some remakes are better (Wizard of Oz, Ben Hur), most are worse (The Mysterious Island). But none destroy the books, so don't worry about it.

Though I am surprised that with all the wealth of books out there for inspiration, how bad Hollywood movie plots are.

I saw a preview of The Call of the Wild remake, where the sled dogs are racing away from an avalanche. The whole thing looks like a Disneyworld ride. That's not the theme or point of the story at all. Too bad.

> Some remakes are better (Wizard of Oz, Ben Hur)

I'll have to disagree :). The only remake that was better to the original is John Carpenter's "The Thing".

Which are your favorite versions of The Wizard of Oz and Ben Hur? I've only seen the famous versions (1939 and 1959 respectively), which are both remakes.

Thanks for the correction - I was in fact talking about those two versions. I’m glad no one was putting the most recent Ben Hur dumpster fire over the classic.

"Man on Fire"?

(The 1987 original is rarely seen).

Scarface?

Yeah, that remake was better!

You haven't seen the silent Wizard of Oz.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0016544

or the 1929 Ben Hur. Yes, the sea battle and chariot race in the 1929 version were great, but the rest needed a remake.

The remakes after the 1959 version were all "what were they thinking" pointless.

Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" remake was much better than the earlier animated version.

Jackson's "Hobbit" trilogy was just unwatchable. It seems like after the huge success of LotR, everyone around Jackson said nothing but "yes sir, yes sir, three bags full sir!"

> Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" remake was much better than the earlier animated version.

It lacked the immortal “Where there’s a whip, there’s a way” marching song from the animated Return of the King, so that’s debatable.

that is not the version he is referring to.

I know, but it's the only opportunity I've had to promote that earworm on HN, so I had to grab it.

"The Maltese Falcon" -- Huston's version, with Bogart, is much better than the pre-code 1931 version.

But they will left me with a bad taste in the mouth.

Somebody is taking a dump of something I cherish, with no care for its beauty and with money as a priority. It feels like somebody broke my trust or some social contract and walked away with the benefits and little consequences.

It may sound stupid, and it's definitely irrational since it's just a movie, but sometimes after I see this kind of action, I experience it as a personal insult for some weird reasons.

Well...

Novels tend to be written one person. They get written at that person's pace. Sometimes authors stop for years, then return to books. A lot of them have tons of uncompleted chapters, scenes and such sloshing around.

Films are a group effort. They're produced by a company. They hire people, set schedules. All that results in different strengths and weaknesses. Thematic consistency or artistic integrity tend to be strengths of the solo artist. Hence the difference in quality between novel and film story quality.

Also, a lot fewer films get made. That means there are a lot fewer people who get to try, and the chances of exceptional quality goes down.

I think you're forgetting the role of the editor when it comes to publishing a book. Novels without editors are more often than not incomplete, rambling, and inconsistent. Perhaps a veteran author could pull it off but that would be due to the time they've spent in dialogue with others over the course of several publications allowing them to internalize an editorial critique of their own work.

Sure.

Also co-authors, advisors, friends and all sorts of contributors. That said, the author is the sun and editors' role is to help authors write their book. The editor is not under the impression that it is their book.

You'd be surprised.

One of the best things about books is that it triggers the imagination, every reader imagines a slightly different version of the characters and settings.

Once a visual portrayal exists, it's quite difficult to not 'see' that character in your imagination as that version, be it Daniel Radcliffe, Ian McKellan, Sean Astin, or whoever.

Not that it "destroys" it as such, but it does affect/influence it.

In the case of Harry Potter (as a series) that's intentional though.

True, but you don’t have to watch the remakes or adaptations. One doesn’t have to run to the cinema the first day instead wait from reviews.

E.g I never watched the new Ghost In Th Shell movie because the 1995 anime is one of the most influential films I have seen as a kid and I don’t want to meddle with those memories. Similarly I skipped most movie adaptations of book I liked. There are enough great movies to choose from.

It must be said, that just because an IP management company would like to sell the rights to make some movies does not mean any studio is interested in buying them or funding such a title.

Microsoft spent years "exploring" a Halo film.

(It must be said, I think a studio might bite on a Gandalf film, but I doubt there's enough in any of the others.)

Too late. There's already an upcoming video game following our Hero, Gollum, during the period before LotR where he wanders searching for the stolen Ring.

Actually? That sounds kinda fun. Gollum is a classic anti-hero.

I’d rather a world where anyone and everyone is free to write stories about these characters as they wish.

There is no sane framework for using state violence to enforce property laws over who is allowed to write stories over fictional characters. These characters don’t belong to anyone.

What do you think about separating author's rights from copyright? That is, separate the right to distribute copies from the right to make derivatives?

The problem is that Tolkien was an exceptionally good story teller with a clear idea of his universe.

These remakes however get made by people being paid to spin out low tier content based on the IP that Tolkien painstakingly created. They’re coasting on his work and will tarnish his creation just to make a quick buck.

It’s a shame. They should make their own IP instead, but of course that’s too risky in the pursuit of profit.

I believe Tolkien envisioned people adding their own works to his mythology. At least that's what I remember from reading his biography some years back.

Well, yes, and no.

> In 1966 a fan of his stories wrote to him detailing a 'sequel' to The Lord of the Rings that he planned to write. Tolkien forwarded the letter to his publisher denouncing 'this young ass' for his 'impertinent contribution to my troubles' and asking for their lawyers to write a suitably-worded letter refusing permission. [1]

I can't help but wonder if Tolkien, if he was alive today, would think of modern writers "working with his material" in similar terms.

I think you’re slightly confusing the right to write stories about these characters, and the right to sell your stories about these characters.

I’m not fan of copyright laws either, but this is a misrepresentation

It's not though.

it is. you’re perfectly allowed to write stories about any characters you want, doing anything you want, you’re just not allowed to sell them

Not just sell them; you're not allowed to share them with other people.

Non-commercial fanfic often slides under the radar, but it is not legal except in the unusual case where the copyright holder has given explicit permission.

I hate this trend of endless franchises. I understand the risk factor of new, untested stories for something as expensive as a movie or video game, but christ it’s as dull as it is disheartening to see everything spun out to complete saturation.

Not to mention that, when you keep something going forever, it will eventually turn to shit. I dislike long running TV shows for the same reason: give me two or three seasons of your best, not six seasons where I’m questioning why I’m still watching between the premiere and finale of each.

Questioning each new season is probably related to shows that only have a budget, staff, and cast allocated season by season, which forces the writers to start and stop any ongoing plots within that single season timeframe. I started to see that pattern and came to hate a majority of made for TV shows that should have been something far more grand than their fetters allowed.

The fact you are still watching despite not knowing why is what keeps them going.

Unfortunately, the apparently make money, so they’ll keep coming.

If you’re gonna do a franchise, at least do something that doesn’t have already widely successful media.

Not franchises, but I’m also sick of remakes that are complete total ass. I came across the “new” Hawaii 5-0 on TV and was actually livid at how they ruined that series. Every character felt like a douchebag, and they really put effort into making it as corny as possible.

But we celebrate a multiverse of possibilities and reimaginings in the comic world. They're explained but they are essentially just a rewrite, a different artist, a different vision.

I'm not sure where you draw the line. Some of my favourite LotR and Star Wars content wasn't what people would consider the main event, so if it meant not being able to have things like KotOR or various Middle Earth games, I'd rather we didn't draw a line at all.

I know, I'm focussing on the good, and there is some absolute trash out there... But I think both sides are important to consider before banning rewrites and spin-offs.

Game of Thrones was the one weird exception to that. Would have been so much better if they had given themselves 10 more episodes to wrap up, rather than the crazy schedule they set themselves.

Shadow of Mordor was pretty great. But executives seem to be swayed too much by people who wish to make yet another Marvel movie with a political message pushing values that were adopted by the majority back in the '70s.

There are many, many stories that can be written both in the past of Tolkien's trilogy (i.e. adapt the Silmarillion and other myths), or in the future - how does the Shire develop? What about the kingdoms of men? You can have an entire A Song of Ice and Fire epic about the intrigues between kingdoms after the elves leave. Or a much smaller adventure about hobbits from Bagend going where they shouldn't - trespassing in Tom Bombadil's domain, searching for treasure, with most of them dying for really pissing off old Tom, delivering the message that nature should be respected, as it is not evil, nor good, but simply exists for itself.

Or check out the highest rated fanfiction, pay the author a few hundred thousand and adapt that. It will be cheaper and safer than trying to turn Middle Earth into something it is not.

Shadow of Mordor is a very good game, but it would be just as good if it weren’t using the LotR IP.

The IP helps with the marketing efforts, but that’s about it.

I understand that there's a 99% chance that they'll cock this up if they do it but if, somehow by the grace of God, they actually stuck to canon and made a movie that the fans really wanted to see it would probably be fine if not actually a wonderful addition to the story of Middle-earth. A lot of stars would have to align to make this happen though, you'd need a director who was both a visionary and a dedicated fan, green lights and a hands off approach from studio execs, a very competent producer who could shepherd the film through and act as a balancing force for the director to make sure that the end result was entertaining and internally consistent. Nothing short of a miracle really. Probably less than 1% chance of that happening today.

I can't wait to see the corpse of Tolkein's IP bastardised by more "modern" content.

I miss being 10 and watching LoTR for the first time, I genuinely don't think I could work up the interest to watch another piece of entertainment released after the disappointment and insanely high levels of bloom-filter in The Hobbit. Amazon's upcoming show does away with the Elvish languages, and the established appearance of the universe.

> I miss being 10 and watching LoTR for the first time

People thought the Peter Jackson LoTR movies bastardized Tolkein's IP too you know, in particular Christopher Tolkien was not a fan.

I still view the LoTR movies that way.

They did, it is not really up for debate. Whether they were good or not is up to the viewer

I agree with you that the Legendarium is worthy of respect and that it's even sacred to a degree. I also found the Hobbit movies disappointing. That said:

> Amazon's upcoming show does away with the Elvish languages

This is not accurate.

> In the first of five planned seasons for The Rings of Power, the show makes heavy use of Elvish, Dwarvish, and Orcish, in addition to English flavored with British and Irish palettes.

https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/amazon-lord-of-the-rin...

The show has a dialect coach: https://wegotthiscovered.com/movies/the-rings-of-power-diale...

> the established appearance of the universe.

Is this about the brown-skinned male Elf and the brown-skinned and beardless female Dwarf? This horse has been beaten to death and back on YouTube and Reddit, and the consensus is that it's fine and faithful to the texts.

> the consensus is that it's fine and faithful to the texts.

Huh? Consensus is a strong word. When and on what basis was such consensus reached? Which lines by Tolkien allow for such an obvious change?

obviously, consensus amongst the people worth of asking when reaching consensus :) just teasing.

The first reaction in my heart was sadness at this news, complete with many of the thoughts you shared here.

But look at it another way - we were lucky enough to experience it before all of the blooming enhancements.

Also, as annoyed as I also am, it means that even more people will gain familiarity with the general mythology, which is a good thing.

Mythology grows when it is adapted, modified, reimagined, and altered, often imbuing it with fresh vitality and cultural relevance. Consider how many variations are represented in nearly every Ancient Greek myth. I, for one, am delighted that Tolkien's work has risen to the level of myth, and not contained to only his own creative project.

Despite my deep love of Tolkien's work, I do not intend to watch a minute of the new stuff. I wish them luck!

Will have to Google what is this bloom thing. Haven’t seen the movies.

bloom is basically a hazy shine

> insanely high levels of bloom-filter in The Hobbit

Looks like they mean bloom effect:

> Bloom (shader effect) - a computer graphics effect used in video games, demos, and high-dynamic-range rendering (HDRR) to reproduce an imaging artifact of real-world cameras. The effect produces fringes (or feathers) of light extending from the borders of bright areas in an image, contributing to the illusion of an extremely bright light overwhelming the camera or eye capturing the scene.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom_(shader_effect)

---

At first I thought of a "bloom filter", a kind of data structure.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom_filter

When people mention the high levels of bloom-filter in the Hobbit, is it also an oblique reference to all of those scenes with Orlando Bloom galavanting about?

You should have a look at Lord of the Rings Online, an MMORPG set in Middle-earth. They have an extraordinary devotion to Tolkien's text. It's worthwhile to Tolkien fans just as a way of visualizing his world, even without the gameplay. It incorporates details that most readers gloss over in reading.

It's an example of how it's possible to be deeply respectful of the material while extending it and exploring it. I have no idea if "Embracer" is going to achieve that or not, but it means I'm going to keep an open mind about it.

> With more than 220 ongoing game development projects, our well-invested development pipeline is now maturing. It includes more than 25 AAA games under development to be released until the financial year 2025/26.

Embracer is basically buying up the whole indie/small dev scene

https://embracer.com/release/embracer-group-publishes-interi...

How does one studio have 25 AAA games? Are there even 25 AAA games in existence? Maybe I have a different definition of that.

>How does one studio have 25 AAA games?

They have more than 100 internal game development studios and more than 12k employees

>Are there even 25 AAA games in existence

Sure. Just look at the big franchises. Pokémon, GTA, Call of Duty, Final Fantasy, Assassin's Creed, Resident Evil, Tomb Raider, Monster Hunter, Tom Clancy's, Halo etc etc

Easy: Embracer Group is far more than "one studio", check out their list of subsidiaries (admittedly not every one of these makes video games): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embracer_Group#Subsidiaries

Oh my lord there are some names on that list. Interesting that Gearbox and 3D realms are owned by the same parent company. Freaking Greasy Randy Pitchford

I do think 25 might be overstating things a bit, as they don’t seem to own quite enough AAA level studios or IP, but on the other hand they do own a crazy number of total studios.

They own or are acquiring the following AAA IPs: Metro, Deus Ex, Tomb Raider, Thief, Borderlands, LOTR/Hobbit

And those are just the ones that I personally recognize, it is possible that several of the IPs of their sub studios do qualify as AAA, but simply sounded smaller to me.

I don't know, if they are including Eidos-Montreal and Crystal Dynamics, they could easily count 3 or 4 games, studios always working on multiple projects in different capacities, we know that Crystal Dynamics is working on a new Tomb Raider and there was a rumor that Eidos-Montreal is working in a new ip, and they will probably go back to Deus Ex after that.

Some of their studio could've done A/AA games in the past and now Embracer is giving them a bigger budget.

25 AAA games in 4 years is a lot. Even if they create 2 AAA games per existing AAA IP they control in that 4 year span (which seems optimistic at best), this would still require a pretty significant number of AAA games being made based on either new IP, or IP that was historically not AAA.

Tasking a bunch of their smaller studios with developing brand new AAA IP is always possible, but potentially risky.

Also, at least historically most of the studios under Embracer are not known for doing EA's (especially sport titles) or Activision's historical (Call of Duty) approach of releasing one game in the franchise per year.

Going that route can work, but it does tend to have many releases be uninspired, or rushed, or otherwise clearly harmed by the yearly release deadline.

They have 25 AAA games in development, some unreleased games are: Saints Row(Reboot), Alone in the Dark(Reboot), Dead Island 2.

I don't know if they included the next Tomb raider and Eidos Montreal new ip, because the acquisition isn't finished yet.

FYI, apparently this doesn't include material from The Silmarillion or Unfinished Tales (et al.), as those rights were never sold by the Tolkien family.

https://www.cultureslate.com/news/why-amazon-doesnt-have-the...

That’s fascinating. What a bizarre tightrope the producers of the Amazon show have to walk: You can use the LotR appendices but not the Silmarillion!

I respect the wishes of the Tolkien estate, but it’s a shame that even the “perfect” team wouldn’t have a chance to put their vision of any of those stories on screen.

Given what we have seen from the show so far there certainly are parts from the Silmarillion -- when you have practically unlimited budget, I am sure some exceptions could be arranged.

They also bought Tripwire (killing floor) and Limited Run Games (physical copies of digital games) and a few others. Joining the already many acquisitions they had.

Slowly Embracer are becoming a behemot with a monopoly on the Indie/A/AA sector of gaming and nobody knows anything about them. People are afraid of what the Microsoft/Activision sale means for gaming and FTC is probing and what not, but nobody is looking at Embracer.

I wonder how that'll go.

I don’t believe just buying lots of property in a particular segment is enough to warrant anti-trust action. It would become a problem if this company started buying property in a different segment and started unfairly using domination in that one to exploit domination in this one etc. It’s basically a problem when consumer choice is artificially limited or the goal is to inflate pricing. This is why the Microsoft/Activision or the Apple, Amazon monopolies are attracting far more scrutiny. They have fingers in multiple pies all over the place.

I haven’t looked into it, but just skimming the subject I do wonder if someone else is behind this Embracer company? Amazon just put a lot of energy behind this franchise. Maybe this is them obscuring their stake or shedding ahead of scrutiny?

As always - shit’s designed to be complicated so few take notice.

But they're not just buying property. They're buying studios, which means more and more and more game devs are being employed by the same employer. Isn't that one of the biggest problems with Microsot/Activision?

By having less possible employers, the employees lose bargaining power.

Clue is in their name.

In Canada (but not the US) which has life + 50 years copyright, Tolkien’s works enter the public domain in a little more than a year (Sep 2, 2023).

I will be very glad to see this bit of our cultural inheritance allowed to pass to its inheritors, in at least some parts of the Anglosphere.

I don't mind some reasonable copyright to help authors be compensated for adding to our culture, but the perpetual exploitation of a franchise for a century or more by corporations without input from people doing their own remixes seems to have seriously harmed our ability to even have shared mythic stores like the Lord of the Rings.

Also New Zealand and Australia, NZ is life+50, Australia now has life+70 but it wasn't retroactive so Tolkien's works are life+50 there too.

The United States demanded that Canada extend copyright to life + 70 years. Justin Trudeau and Christina Freeland acquiesced when they signed the USMCA.

The deadline for implementation is January 2023, thus Tolkien's works will not be entering the public domain. There will be no works entering the public domain in Canada between 2023 and 2043.

Basically ransacking of the public domain. If copyright violation is "piracy", copyright extension should also get a cool name.

I can see it now: “Second Breakfast, a Hobbit’s Creed”.

Seriously now, what secondary characters might bring some interesting game ideas? I’m coming up blank here.

Test your skill: Try to keep Tom Bombadil from boring you to death.

There is a lot of potential in Tolkien's works. They're already exploring the Rohirrim. Rings of Power will expand on Galadriel and Elrond. It would be interesting to see something specifically about the dwarves of Moria - particularly the time period of Balin's attempted recolonization.

That only works for original content by JRR Tolkien. If other authors write that cintent, and not just adapting it for TV or cinema, it will the same mess as the Dune prequels. The Hobbit was great, I love it both the movies and the book, but even there you saw the less then stellar content and story arch around Gandalf that was only hinted at in the book. Now image the whole story arch is like that...

I don't follow. What are you saying?

A gardening simulator game with Sam as the main character

Mirrors edge, but with gollum

I think you could make a really good Witcher style show/movie/game with Aragorn’s backstory

Animal Crossing in the Shire.

Dwarf fortress but (even) more explicitly Tolkien-themed.

Already exists: https://github.com/sil-quirk/sil-q

Forest tending simulator, with ents. They could also fight those pesky dwarves - crossover with their fortress game.

Dwarf Fortress, but with Durin and Moria

Imagine a 7-part retelling of the original trilogy, entirely from the perspective of Bill Ferny’s pony.

"Embracer’s operative group Asmodee Group is already one of the most successful licensees of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit..."

That's about the level of cleverness I had hiding my villains' names when I was playing D&D in 5th grade. I feel disrespected.

It's disturbing, that's what it is.

This seems like somewhat of a rights mess. They may or may night have movie* and TV** rights. They obviously don't have the book plubishing rights (though I imagine they could make printed derivative works e.g. comic books). The value of Tolkien's work seems to entirely be in the media works that people like. Now this may sounds silly or obvious, but what I mean is: I can't imagine people buying generic merchandise like they do with Star Wars. People will buy Star Wars toys for their children even when a movie isn't released that year; People will buy paper party plates, napkins, paper cups, party balloons, etc. with Darth Vader's face on them; People will buy Star Wars themed chess sets and monopoly games. I have a hard time imagining people doing that year around, even when there isn't a movie or television series people like to tie into.

* Sounds like there is a dispute between Zaentz/Embracer and Warner Bros. about who currently controls the movie rights. I believe the agreement was that Zaentz sublicensed the Movie rights to Warner and they revert after a certain period of time if no more movies come out. Zaentz bought the movie rights from Tolkien himself.

** When Zaentz bought the Movie and TV rights, the TV rights were based on a certain number of episodes. I can't remember which way it goes but Amazon should be in the clear based on if they make more/fewer episdoes than what Zaentz right's specified. I think Zaentz's rights are also limited to LotR and The Hobbit while I believe Amazon also licensed Silmarillion from the Tolkien Estate. Considering the press release states Zaentz has a financial interest in The Rings of Power, I imagine Amazon just paid them off to not cause legal trouble.

> I believe Amazon also licensed Silmarillion from the Tolkien Estate.

Actually it's worse (or better depending on your pov) than that. Amazon only owns rights to the appendices of LOTR so they are extremely limited with what they can or cannot do.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embracer_Group

"...opening up more transmedia opportunities including synergies across our global group." - this couldn't sound more anti-tolkien. Tolkien wrote particular stories within a particular world - the fact that that has resonated with millions of people worldwide is proof enough (one would think) that the story doesn't need external "nudging" or "expansion" for more media opportunities. Keep telling the same story, for thousands of years without changing. This was the tradition people have been following since time immemorial. Don't let some media group just come by and sweep the floor with it to their liking just because they can. Like the retelling of his stories in RoP, Tolkien fans should stand up and say, "we don't want this, we won't cooperate."

I, for one, do not want a Tolkien Cinematic Universe.

Don't fancy the LOTR equivalent of "She Hulk: Attorney at Law"?

I seriously thought that was a meme, but I looked it up after seeing your comment and it's real.

Embracer, extend and extinguish.

Do they though? Do we have any history of Embracer's policies and what happens to IP purchased by them? Are they "just" buying up IP/games in order to make more money by reselling the rights to use the IP? What's really going on over there?

It's two weeks to the amazing prime series drop, and also folks not familiar with that Embracer is the new name for THQ Nordic holding.

If you haven't heard about THQ Nordic studio, the other day it was in the news for a teaser of a remake of Gothic - but if in the news it was called "Embracer makes a remake of Gothic", we would have these jokes about embrace-and-extend, too.

They do not. But to be honest their C level people and the Board of Directors give me the impression that they are interested in the money, the games are just a coincidence.

Nice, there were some great games based on Peter Jackson's movies, namely that weird PS II RPG... with the exact same combat as Final Fantasy X... But for me it's like with Star Wars, it's the musics that sell the games. I wouldn't be playing The Old Republic MMO today if not for the great musics EA and Bioware had the right to use for instance. Nothing more immersive than a good score.

"Some...body once told me...": and there's nothing worse than a bunch of songs cobbled together to keep a crappy story 'engaging'. A certain part 2 jumped my particular shrek.

Lord of the Rings: The Third Age. Fantastic game that few remember

Anyone here remember the 1990 video game?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J.R.R._Tolkien%27s_The_Lord_of...

I was young and hungry enough for LotR content to absolutely love that game, but I had and still have no idea how it was supposed to work.

I don’t remember many details now, but I still have a crystal clear memory of the feeling of playing that game.

Excited for the upcoming retelling of the whole trilogy+++ from Sauron's point of view?

Where he's simply tring to built a multi-cultural transnational state like the EU?

Kind of like The Last Ringbearer?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Ringbearer

Not quite Sauron's POV, but close(r). I read it in translation. Pretty good premise, but once you'd absorbed that there was little left and the rest became a bit of a slog IMO.

Yeah, it looks interesting. I've got a huge pile of books to read already, but this does look good!

I always thought it was a bit off how Orc were just "elves gone bad".

Yes, same vibe as "The Empire Did Nothing Wrong" from Star Wars fandom - though that one is even less likely to make it into an official licensed story(!)

I view this stuff for what it is. Fanfic with high production values. Nothing more.

I feel like they were salivating when Christopher was on his death bed. He was the best custodian the fandom could have ever asked for.

I’m probably an outlier in tech because I’ve never enjoyed any Tolkien. My father tried to interest me in The Hobbit and the only thing I found interesting was the runes. Lord of the Rings was just tedious. I never cared for any of the characters and the story seemed pedestrian.

I was not taken with my first read of LOTR. It wasn't until I read it with others who carefully unpacked for me so much more than I could see. And there is SO much.

Like, I could never tell the difference between Merry and Pippin before. They were just two copies of the same character to me. Now I see them individually, and I'm fond of one but not the other.

And Faramir and Eowyn! A side love story that could be a whole book on its own. I pretty much glanced over it the first time, because a lot of it happens while we (and they) are stuck on the side lines of the "real" story. My mistake!

> the story seemed pedestrian

I'll intentionally misinterpret this: That's so true! ;) Tolkien very carefully timed the events of the story around how long it would actually take the characters to walk from here to there. Of course, that means he also knew the exact distances between places in Middle Earth.

Another roll-up.

Another vulture picking at the flesh.

"Marty Glick, COO of The Saul Zaentz Company".

You can't write this shit. Hopefully the new IRS agents audit the hell out of anyone involved in this company and Hollywood in general.

Do we really need all video games and media owned by "friends and family" in California/New York more than it already is?

I first read "Embraer" and think wtf!

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