Editing J. R. R. Tolkien (section)

=== Adaptations ===

{{further|Middle-earth in film}}

In a 1951 letter to the publisher [[Milton Waldman]] (1895–1976), Tolkien wrote about his intentions to create a "body of more or less connected legend", of which "[t]he cycles should be linked to a majestic whole, and yet leave scope for other minds and hands, wielding paint and music and drama".<ref group="T">{{harvnb|Carpenter|Tolkien|1981|loc=''Letters'' #131 to Milton Walden, late 1951}}</ref> The hands and minds of many artists have indeed been inspired by Tolkien's legends. Personally known to him were [[Pauline Baynes]] (Tolkien's favourite illustrator of ''[[The Adventures of Tom Bombadil]]'' and ''[[Farmer Giles of Ham]]'') and [[Donald Swann]] (who set the music to ''[[The Road Goes Ever On]]''). Queen [[Margrethe II of Denmark]] created illustrations to ''The Lord of the Rings'' in the early 1970s. She sent them to Tolkien, who was struck by the similarity they bore in style to his own drawings.<ref>{{cite news |last=Thygesen |first=Peter |date=Autumn 1999 |title=Queen Margrethe II: Denmark's monarch for a modern age |work=Scandinavian Review |url=https://www.questia.com/read/1P3-46949881 |url-status=live |access-date=12 March 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210526123505/https://www.gale.com/databases/questia |archive-date=26 May 2021}}</ref> Tolkien was not implacably opposed to the idea of a dramatic adaptation, however, and sold the film, stage and merchandise rights of ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings'' to [[United Artists]] in 1968. United Artists never made a film, although director [[John Boorman]] was planning a live-action film in the early 1970s. In 1976, the rights were sold to [[Tolkien Enterprises]], a division of the [[Saul Zaentz]] Company, and the first film adaptation of ''[[The Lord of the Rings (1978 film)|The Lord of the Rings]]'' was released in 1978 as an animated [[rotoscoping]] film directed by [[Ralph Bakshi]] with screenplay by the fantasy writer [[Peter S. Beagle]]. It covered only the first half of the story of ''The Lord of the Rings''.<ref>{{cite news |last=Canby |first=Vincent |date=15 November 1978 |title=Film: 'The Lord of the Rings' From Ralph Bakshi |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/01/02/11/specials/tolkien-lordfilm.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090411062438/http://www.nytimes.com/books/01/02/11/specials/tolkien-lordfilm.html |archive-date=11 April 2009}}</ref>

In 1977, an animated [[musical film|musical]] television film of ''[[The Hobbit (1977 film)|The Hobbit]]'' was made by [[Rankin-Bass]], and in 1980, they produced the animated musical television film ''[[The Return of the King (1980 film)|The Return of the King]]'', which covered some of the portions of ''The Lord of the Rings'' that Bakshi was unable to complete. From 2001 to 2003, [[New Line Cinema]] released ''[[The Lord of the Rings (film series)|The Lord of the Rings]]'' as a trilogy of live-action films that were filmed in New Zealand and directed by [[Peter Jackson]]. The series was successful, performing extremely well commercially and winning numerous [[Academy Awards|Oscars]].<ref>{{cite news |date=1 March 2004 |title=Rings scores Oscars clean sweep |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/3495748.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170831160410/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/3495748.stm |archive-date=31 August 2017}}</ref>
From 2012 to 2014, [[Warner Bros.]] and New Line Cinema released ''[[The Hobbit (film series)|The Hobbit]]'', a series of three films based on ''The Hobbit'', with [[Peter Jackson]] serving as executive producer, director, and co-writer.<ref name="february">{{cite news |last=McNary |first=Dave |date=15 October 2010 |title='The Hobbit' Pics to Shoot in February |work=Variety |url=https://variety.com/2010/film/news/the-hobbit-pics-to-shoot-in-february-1118025794/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131106100437/http://variety.com/2010/film/news/the-hobbit-pics-to-shoot-in-february-1118025794/ |archive-date=6 November 2013}}</ref> The first instalment, ''[[The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey]]'', was released in December 2012;<ref>{{cite web |title=The Hobbit Worldwide Release Dates |url=http://www.thehobbit.com/releasedates/release-dates.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121215171953/http://www.thehobbit.com/releasedates/release-dates.html |archive-date=15 December 2012 |publisher=TheHobbit.com}}</ref> the second, ''[[The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug]]'', in December 2013;<ref>{{cite web |title=The Hobbit Worldwide Release Dates |url=http://www.thehobbit.com/releasedates/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141109153155/http://www.thehobbit.com/releasedates/index.html |archive-date=9 November 2014 |publisher=TheHobbit.com}}</ref> and the last instalment, ''[[The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies]]'', in December 2014.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Movie 2014 – Worldwide Release Dates |url=http://appcloud.warnerbros.com/thehobbit/releasedates/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141227165759/http://appcloud.warnerbros.com/thehobbit/releasedates/ |archive-date=27 December 2014 |publisher=warnerbros.com}}</ref> In 2017, [[Amazon (company)|Amazon]] acquired the global television rights to ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', for a series of new stories set before ''The Fellowship of the Ring''.<ref>{{cite web |date=13 November 2017 |title=Amazon will run a multi-season Lord of the Rings prequel TV series |url=https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/11/amazon-will-run-a-multi-season-lord-of-the-rings-prequel-tv-series/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171114012646/https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/11/amazon-will-run-a-multi-season-lord-of-the-rings-prequel-tv-series/ |archive-date=14 November 2017 |website=Ars Technica}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Koblin |first=John |date=13 November 2017 |title='Lord of the Rings' Series Coming to Amazon |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/13/arts/television/lord-of-the-rings-series-amazon.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180217165109/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/13/arts/television/lord-of-the-rings-series-amazon.html |archive-date=17 February 2018}}</ref>