Why Hasn’t the Tolkien Estate Sold the Rights to Adapt the Silmarillion?

After the “Hunt for Gollum” movie announcement, I notice more than one person asking why the Tolkien Estate hasn’t sold the rights to the Silmarillion yet. It seems like a natural enough question following the death of Christopher Tolkien, but there are still plenty of obstacles to such a move.

Want to know about that atrocious John Boorman LOTR script? Here are my videos on it:

Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhKX7VdMiZU

Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbxZU3mVRsc

Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7BqeOwPcSE

Part 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHGpbhTKq0w

For good measure, here I talk about JRR Tolkien’s comments on another script he hated: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMLLIFb_Pe8

For my (very old) thoughts on how you might adapt the Silmarillion, check this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cliHCmfpj3M

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