Warner Bros. Orders Removal of 15-Year-Old Lord of the Rings Fan Film After Announcing Hunt for Gollum Movie

*Editor’s Note* The film has now been restored on YouTube and is available to view!

The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum announcement momentarily led to a longtime fan-film being copyright blocked on YouTube. On the popular website, Chris Bouchard’s The Hunt for Gollum has been around for 15 years or so. However, when fans try to go see it now, they saw a copyright claim from Warner Bros. Entertainment instead. Despite the fan filmmaker putting numerous disclaimers in front of his project, the announcement of this new project from director Andy Serkis led to a video that’s been viewed 13 million times by fans of the franchise being unavailable for a little while on the platform.

On Facebook, Bouchard and company addressed the announcement and had to ammend their statement once the copyright claim was filed. “We’re all pretty excited here about The Warner Bros announcement making an adaptation of The Hunt for Gollum with Andy Serkis & Peter Jackson! [Edit seems our short got blocked from YouTube, hope temporarily – we’re enquiring in case it can be reinstated as it’s clearly a non profit homage/fan effort],” the production wrote.

They continued, “We were so inspired by how they imagined Middle-earth (and Gollum) that we spent 2 years making our micro budget film version as a labour of love.  For sure a lot more is possible than what we could achieve with Gollum kept off screen as a voice in a sack for most of our film. After all we could only manage 1 full CGI shot of Gollum on our budget (the last shot of the film). Our indie film effort still lurks on YouTube for wanderers who are not lost, or those who seek…  Excited for what the new film will be!”

When Does The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum Release?

Fans were shocked to get this news about The Lord of the Rings having a new live-action movie. Slated for 2026, Andy Serkis directs one of his iconic characters with the full involvement of Peter Jackson. It will be interesting to see how this all unfolds.

“For over two-decades, moviegoers have embraced the Lord of the Rings film trilogy because of the undeniable devotion Peter, Fran and Philippa have shown towards protecting the legacy of Tolkien’s works, and to ensure audiences could experience the incredible world he created in a way that honors his literary vision,” Warner Bros. Motion Pictures heads Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy said in a statement earlier this week. “We are honored they have agreed be our partners on these two new films. With Andy coming aboard to direct Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum(*WT), we continue an important commitment to excellence that is a true hallmark of how we all want to venture ahead and further contribute to the Lord of the Rings cinematic history.”

Jackson, Walsh and Boyens added, “It is an honour and a privilege to travel back to Middle-earth with our good friend and collaborator, Andy Serkis, who has unfinished business with that Stinker – Gollum! As life long fans of Professor Tolkien’s vast mythology, we are proud to be working with Mike De Luca, Pam Abdy and the entire team at Warner Bros. on another epic adventure!”

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