15-Year-Old ‘Hunt for Gollum’ Fan Film Restored Online After It Got Blocked Following Warner Bros.’ New ‘Lord of the Rings’ Movie Announcement

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Viggo Mortensen revealed in an interview with GQ UK magazine that he used Aragorn’s iconic sword Andúril from “Lord of the Rings” in his latest movie, “The Dead Don’t Hurt.” Mortensen wrote and directed the 19th century Western, in which he stars as a Danish immigrant separated from his love (Vicky Krieps) during the Civil War. For one fantasy sequence in the film, Mortensen asked his “Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson if he had his permission to use Aragorn’s sword again on screen. Mortensen played the character in Jackson’s original “Rings” trilogy and kept the sword after production wrapped.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director In a new interview with The New York Times for the upcoming “Star Wars” series “The Acolyte,” Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said she is aware that women in the space franchise are often attacked online more than men “because of the fan base being so male dominated.” Female stars Daisy Ridley and Kelly Marie Tran certainly faced online harassment from toxic fans when the most recent “Star Wars” film trilogy was released, and now “The Acolyte” is already being attacked in certain corners of the fandom. “The Acolyte” is an original story created by Leslye Headland that’s set long before the events of “The Phantom Menace.” Headland, known for directing films such as “Sleeping With Other People” and co-creating Netflix’s hit comedy series “Russian Doll,” is the first woman to serve as showrunner of a “Star Wars” series.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director “Stranger Things” star Gaten Matarazzo revealed on the “Inside of You” podcast that he’s had a few interactions with “Stranger Things” fans that have been “a little uncomfortable.” A recent encounter with a mother in her 40s was especially “insane,” as the mother openly told Matarazzo that she had a crush on him while standing in front of her own daughter. Matarazzo thought she might be joking, but she “doubled down.” “I did one very recently — and this is not very funny, but the reactions around it were quite funny — where this woman in her 40s said straight up, ‘I’ve had a crush on you since you were 13,’” Matarazzo said (via Us Magazine).

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Musician James Blunt recently said at the Hay Festival in Wales (via People) that his close friend Carrie Fisher faced tremendous pressure to be thin for “Star Wars” when she reprised her iconic role of Princess Leia in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” Fisher previously told Good Housekeeping U.K. in 2015 shortly before “The Force Awakens” opened in theaters that she lost 35 pounds for the movie.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Ryan Reynolds said in a new video interview with Fandango that he is “surprised” Disney allowed the upcoming “Deadpool and Wolverine” to be so R-rated. The movie is the first “Deadpool” film to be released under Disney following the company’s acquisition of Fox, which made Reynolds’ first two R-rated “Deadpool” movies that grossed just over $780 million each at the worldwide box office.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director “Pirates of the Caribbean” producer Jerry Bruckheimer has provided more clarity on the current state of the Disney adventure franchise. He already teased in March that a total reboot was going to be the first “Pirates” movie out of the gate in the future because “it’s easier to put together because you don’t have to wait for certain actors.” This reboot is now confirmed to have writer Jeff Nathanson attached. Bruckheimer announced the news in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.

Even after Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 arrives, there will be more of Middle Earth to explore, particularly through the lens of Gollum’s perspective. Deadline unpacked where the franchise is heading with longtime collaborators Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. Warner Bros. has acquired the rights to make more films based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy work and the world founded on Peter Jackson’s original New Line trilogy of films, with one corresponding to each books.

EXCLUSIVE: Since Warner Bros acquired the rights to make more Middle-earth films based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s works and the canon established by New Line’s original trilogy, Peter Jackson and his Lord of the Rings cohorts Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens hovered over the proceedings for a long time, as they mulled how to return, and much to involve themselves into another deep dive into Tolkien mythology.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Warner Bros. Discovery kept up with TV upfronts week’s biggest trend at their presentation out of The Theater at Madison Square Garden Tuesday: Promoting not just its TV slate as a prime ad-buying opportunity — but also its film franchises. First up from CEO David Zaslav’s team, WB Discovery revenue and strategy chief Bruce Campbell addressed the Madison Avenue crowd following a sizzle featuring top WBD IP and brands across film and TV series.

Alex Ritman Bond legend Pierce Brosnan has lined up a new project, and this time it’s being directed by his own son. Thriller “Wolfland” marks the second feature from actor-turned-filmmaker Sean Brosnan (“My Father Die”), working from a script he co-wrote with Matt D’Elia.

Lord Of The Rings: The Rings of Power has arrived – check it out below.Prime Video announced today (May 14) that the new season of the show will arrive on August 29 and revealed that Charlie Vickers would return in the role of Sauron, described as “one of the world’s greatest literary villains”, and “appearing in a new form – one that will aid him in deceiving the denizens of Middle-earth.”The trailer also reveals the return of many fan favourite characters, including Galadriel, Elrond, Prince Durin IV, Arondir, and Celebrimbor and the first-look trailer also reveals the much-anticipated creation of more Rings.A synopsis of the new season explains:” In Season Two of The Rings of Power, Sauron has returned. Cast out by Galadriel, without army or ally, the rising Dark Lord must now rely on his own cunning to rebuild his strength and oversee the creation of the Rings of Power, which will allow him to bind all the peoples of Middle-earth to his sinister will.“Building on Season One’s epic scope and ambition, the new season plunges even its most beloved and vulnerable characters into a rising tide of darkness, challenging each to find their place in a world that is increasingly on the brink of calamity.

EXCLUSIVE: Andrew Garfield is in negotiations to star alongside Julia Roberts in Amazon MGM Studios’ upcoming feature After the Hunt, which will be released in theaters next year. Luca Guadagnino is directing the film from a script penned by Nora Garrett. Imagine Entertainment’s Brian Grazer and Allan Mandelbaum are producing alongside Guadagnino via his Frenesy banner. Imagine Entertainment’s Karen Lunder will executive produce alongside Nora Garrett. The film is targeting a summer start-of-production.

Jamie Lang The Annecy International Animation Film Festival has become an increasingly important marketing opportunity for major U.S. studios to show off their upcoming animated offerings. This year, Warner Bros.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Chris Pine earned some of the worst reviews of his career for “Poolman,” a Los Angeles-set comedy mystery in the vein of “Chinatown” that Pine directed, co-wrote and starred in. The movie is Pine’s feature directorial debut, but it got eviscerated by critics when it premiered at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival. Variety critic Owen Gleiberman called it an “absurdist disaster,” for instance.

Lord Of The Rings fans are calling on J.R.R.

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav has announced that the next “Lord of The Rings” movie is aiming for a theatrical release in 2026 and will have the creative involvement of filmmaker Peter Jackson, who co-wrote and directed all six Middle-Earth feature films based on the beloved high-fantasy novels of Professor J.R.R.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Netflix used to say its goal was to become HBO faster than HBO could become Netflix. Well, Netflix succeeded on that front. Now Warner Bros.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Warner Bros. will release the first of its new batch of “The Lord of the Rings” films in 2026, which will focus on Andy Serkis’s Gollum. Original “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy filmmaker Peter Jackson and his partners Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens are producing the movie and “will be involved every step of the way” on the movie, Warner Bros.

UPDATED with name of film, details: The first of two new films — working title Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum — will be directed by and star Andy Serkis (Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle), with Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens set to write the screenplay, along with Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou (Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim). The film will be executive produced by Ken Kamins, with Serkis and The Imaginarium’s Jonathan Cavendish.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Kristen Stewart recently graced the cover of Porter magazine and called out “phony” Hollywood for how it often self-congratulates itself for doing away with the patriarchy when in reality, Hollywood has just prioritized a select group of women to operate in the studio world. While progress is being made, Stewart rang the alarm by saying changes for women in Hollywood are not as broad as Hollywood might like to make it out to be. “[There’s a] thinking that we can check these little boxes, and then do away with the patriarchy, and how we’re all made of it,” Stewart said.