Warner Bros. has fan film THE HUNT FOR GOLLUM pulled from YouTube.

Via @Strangeland_Elf.

Now, two things can be true.

  1. Warner Bros. has the right to enforce its copyrights. In this particular case, they are noting the fact that THE HUNT FOR GOLLUM uses music from the movies, which is indeed something that they can petition YouTube about, and with a reasonable expectation that YouTube will respond. This is a truth. Warner Bros. has the law on their side.
  2. Warner Bros. can screw over itself in the process of enforcing its copyrights. Their planned Gollum movies are already going to be looked at with a jaundiced eye by the very Tolkien fans that Warner Bros. wants to sell tickets to. Putting the kibosh on a popular fan film is not going to endear them with said fans, and this is a time where movie studios cannot quite count on hardcore fanbases the way they’ve been doing so for the last two decades. This is also a truth.

Will it make a difference, though? Probably not enough to tank the Gollum films. But you have to ask yourself: was the juice worth this particular squeeze? – Because I don’t see how that’s putting more money in Warner Bros.’ pockets, net.

3 thoughts on “Warner Bros. has fan film THE HUNT FOR GOLLUM pulled from YouTube.”

  1. I was hopeful that Having Jackson and Serkis around from the beginning again would make a difference. (The lack of which sunk The Hobbit, leaving them to reconstruct incoherent shards halfway through).

    If the studio is going to be this idiotic and meddlesome at the outset, that hope is *quite* diminished.

  2. I’m more confused and bothered than I am apprehensive about the whole Gollum film to begin with. From the conceit of ‘stories yet to be told’ (read – not Tolkien’s brain, but some studio committees) to the description of Andy Serkis as ‘Star’ – Gollum is not just a Villain, he’s an Antagonist, everything is off. Gollum is defined, utterly so, by Greed there is neither subtlety nor saving grace in him.
    To compare, Goldfinger was not the star, neither can Gollum be.

  3. The film is now back on YouTube. (WB withdrew their complaint.)

    Conjecture: clueless underlings overruled when news got to somebody who actually thinks about consequences.

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