A brief mention in an article from Boston.com's World News entitled "Is it Tolkien or Isn't It?" drops a bombshell rumor at the end of the second page that otherwise has nothing to do with movies. The author of the article quotes David Brawn, publishing director of HarperCollins UK, as saying that multiple studios have approached the Tolkien Estate in regards to filming rights for The Children of Hurin. Not a big surprise at all, in my mind, who wouldn't want to get the rights to what surely would be a summer blockbuster movie (whether they stayed true to the book or not.) What was surprising whas that Mr. Brawn also said that the Tolkien Estate did not turn down the offers, merely postponed responding until after the book's release in April.

I'm all for a movie being made of The Children of Hurin. I have always thought that The Silmarillion would make an awful movie, but very small portions of it (Beren and Luthien's story, for example) would make an excellent transition to the big screen. I'd want the movie to remain more faithful to the book than the Peter Jackson movies did, but I enjoyed PJ's work as a movie trilogy - the good bits please me much more than the hideous bits bug me. I am all for the Tolkien Estate capitalizing on the creations of Prof. Tolkien - I think the deal that Tolkien made when he sold the film and ancillary rights to Saul Zaentz was done in good faith at the time, but has grown into a vastly unfair business deal. More power to the Estate if they want to reap some more of the rewards than they have been able to in the past. I am sure that they will be in a position to negotiate a film deal where executive producer type control over the film production could be under their control. I hope they do sign a deal, I will be in the party line (don't know if I can camp out) to see the premiere.