Hits and myths: why has Hollywood abandoned ancient Greece?

Tolkien-inspired mythology has taken over our screens while a treasure chest of epic fantasy tales lies unused.

The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King will be back in North American cinemas next month, to celebrate 20 years since Peter Jackson first debuted his Oscar-winning film. Its return to the multiplexes comes at a time when we seem to have more JRR Tolkien-inspired fantasies to choose from than a 1980s branch of Games Workshop. As well as Gollum and co returning to the big screen, we have the baffling, utterly superfluous yet sumptuously filmed and geekily delightful small screen The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power TV show. Then next year there will be The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, an animated venture with Brian Cox as Helm Hammerhand and Jackson alumnus Miranda Otto as Eowyn (who will take the narrator’s role for the forthcoming prequel about the legendary warrior king of Rohan)...

Read more from The Guardian here.

Comment

Please check your e-mail for a link to activate your account.