The Lord of the Rings Star Elijah Wood “Surprised” and “Excited” by New Movies Announcement

The Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood gave his opinion on the new Warner Bros. Discovery movies coming up soon. GQ talked to the actor and he’s very surprised by all of these developments. Wood told the outlet that he was kind of fascinated by the move honestly. “I’m fascinated and I’m excited. I hope it’s good,” Wood said to GQ. “I’m surprised—I don’t know why I’m surprised because, of course there would be more movies.” Yes, the cycle of franchise filmmaking continues to spin forward. But, that does beg the question, will the appetite for Middle Earth be the same now that the block is so crowded with other properties?

“Obviously at the core of that, is a desire to make a lot of money,” Wood continued. “It’s not that a bunch of executives are like, ‘Let’s make really awesome art.’ And, again, not begrudging anybody because, of course, it is commerce. But great art can come from commerce. So those two things are not mutually exclusive.”

Expectations For More Franchise Filmmaking at Warner Bros. Discovery

Wood would continue to stress that Peter Jackson’s previous movies didn’t come out of a desire for IP or anything like that. The filmmaker really fell in love with the stories and wanted to do right by the source material.

“It came out of a passion for these books and wanting to see them realized,” Wood told the outlet. “And I hope that that is ultimately what will drive everything forward with whatever these subsequent movies are. I just hope that it’s the same motivating factor at its core, whenever they hire a screenwriter and a filmmaker—that it is with reverence for Tolkien’s material and enthusiasm to explore it.” 

Late last year, CEO David Zaslav tipped his hand in that regard. On an earnings call, he said, “We’re going to have a real focus on franchises. We haven’t had a Superman movie in 13 years. We haven’t done a Harry Potter movie in 15 years. The DC movies and Harry Potter movie provided a lot of the profits of Warner Brothers Motion Pictures over the last 25 years. So focus on the franchise. One of the big advantages that we have, House of the Dragon is an example of that. Game of Thrones, taking advantage of Sex in the City, Lord of the Rings, we still have the right to do Lord of the Rings movies. What are the movies that have brands that are understood and loved everywhere in the world.”

Do you have high hopes for Lord of the Rings? Let us know in the comments down below!