The Silmarillion Movie

No hobbits! 

An awesome book shadowed by the glory of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. A fan-made trailer for a movie not in production. An actor who would like to play a younger Gandalf. And great grief because Christopher Tolkien refuses to sell its rights to The Silmarillion!

The Lord of the Rings has been adapted into three films. So has The Hobbit. What about the other works of J.R.R. Tolkien? Whenever this question is brought up, the first book that comes to mind generally is The Silmarillion, a great book, but many times shadowed by the glory of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. This would be an awesome movie to watch. With the fantastic computer-generated imagery of the twenty-first century, the creation of Arda and Middle-earth could be done very well. It would be even better if Peter Jackson could be persuaded to direct it. Alas, but this was never meant to be.

Christopher Tolkien, the third and only surviving son of J.R.R. Tolkien, is adamant in his decision to have no more of his father's works adapted into films. In an interview given on July 9, 2012, he commented on the films that had been made.
 “Tolkien has become a monster, devoured by his own popularity and absorbed into the absurdity of our time. The chasm between the beauty and seriousness of the work, and what it has become, has overwhelmed me. The commercialization has reduced the aesthetic and philosophical impact of the creation to nothing. There is only one solution for me: to turn my head away.”
Of course many disagree with this, myself included. The movies have shortcomings compared to the books, but they do not diminish the wonder and beauty of the original text. There are complaints about Christopher Tolkien's stubbornness to withhold any further film-making rights, but, in my opinion, there should not be any at all. Without Christopher Tolkien, we would not have any of Tolkien's works that were published posthumously, including The Silmarillion.

James McAvoy

Nevertheless, we will remain hopeful that one day more movies based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien might be made. If there was to be one, it would (obviously) have to be directed by Peter Jackson. No one else would suit the job. There is also a leading role that has already been filled: Gandalf. In the January edition of Total Film Magazine, James McAvoy expressed his ambition to play the part of a younger Gandalf. From Totalfilm.com:

“I’d like to play Gandalf,” he told us, laughing.

‘Gandalf: Origins’, we offer? “It’s called The Silmarillion! It’s a collection of poems and songs that chart the ancient history of Middle-earth. My true geek is coming to the fore, but they’re really, really beautiful stories.

“In part of that is the genesis of Gandalf, or Mithrandir, or Stormcrow, or any of his many, many names. Anyway, maybe that’s the one!”
The hope of a The Silmillarion movie has been expressed in many different ways. There is a pretty cool website devoted to this one topic: TheSilmarillionMovie.com. Hop over there and give it a look! There is also a pretty good fan-made trailer (even though there is not a movie). You can watch it below. Well, that is pretty much all the information there is about The Silmarillion being made into a movie. I hope you enjoyed it!

Sources: Totalfilm.com, TheOneRing.net, Tube Mastah (Youtube)