New 'Tolkien' Movie Image Shows Middle-earth at War

FOX Searchlight today released a new image from the upcoming film Tolkien, a biopic about the life of author JRR Tolkien. The image shows Middle-earth, the vast fantasy realm Tolkien conceived in his novels, at war. Trailers suggest the film will integrate shots like this one into the story of Tolkien's life to show how his personal experiences informed his creative output. You can see the image below (via Fandango).

Tolkien stars Nicholas Hoult as the author of the beloved fantasy stories The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

Here's the film's synopsis: "Tolkien explores the formative years of the orphaned author as he finds friendship, love and artistic inspiration among a group of fellow outcasts at school. This takes him into the outbreak of World War I, which threatens to tear the 'fellowship' apart. All of these experiences would inspire Tolkien to write his famous Middle-Earth novels."

Besides Hoult as Tolkien, the film stars Lily Collins as Tolkien's wife Edith Bratt, Tom Glynn Carne, Anthony Boyle, Patrick Gibson, Colm Meaney, Genevieve O'Reilly, Craig Roberts, Derek Jacobi, James MacCallum, and Pam Ferris.

Dome Karukoski directs Tolkien from a screenplay by David Gleeson and Stephen Beresford. Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, David Ready, and Kris Thykier produce.

Tolkien is the father of modern fantasy literature. A massive collection of items related to Tolkien and his work is currently on display in New York. The exhibition will wrap up its US display just after Tolkien debuts in theaters.

In the early 2000s, Peter Jackson turned Tolkien's Lord of the Rings Trilogy into an Academy Award-winning film trilogy. Jackson returned to Middle-earth a decade later to adapt The Hobbit into a film trilogy.

Amazon is set to expand on Tolkien's work with a new television series. The series will reportedly focus on young Aragorn, the heir to the throne of Gondor who goes into self-imposed exile with the Rangers of the North. Conflicting accounts have surfaced about about Jackson's involvement with the series.

"I don't have thoughts on it because I haven't seen [anything]," Jackson said in his most recent comments on the matter. "I think they're going to send us some scripts to see if we can help them along. I wish them all the best and if we can help them we certainly will try. It's a big task."

"I've sat with Simon Tolkien [JRR Tolkien's grandson] for a couple of hours, and (Amazon TV executive) Sharon (Tal Yguado) has spent tons of time with them," Amazon TV head Jennifer Salke said in June. "She had spent the last couple of months meeting anyone who had said, 'I'm really passionate about it and I want to get in and talk about the show and what's possible.' I think you'll see us honing in on a strategy in the next month, which might involve a group of writers. Clearly, there'll be someone in charge, but it involves the estate and Peter Jackson, and there's a lot of conversations."

What do you think of the trailer for Tolkien? Let us know in the comments.

Tolkien opens in theaters on May 10th.

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