J. R. R. Tolkien's novels The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954–55), set in his fictional world of Middle-earth, have been the subject of numerous motion picture adaptations across film and television.

Tolkien was skeptical of the prospects of an adaptation. The rights to adapt his works passed through the hands of several studios, having been briefly leased to Rembrandt Films before being sold perpetually to United Artists, who then passed them in part to Saul Zaentz who operated the rights under Middle-earth Enterprises. During this time, filmmakers who attempted to adapt Tolkien's works include William Snyder, Peter Shaffer, John Boorman, Ralph Bakshi, Peter Jackson, and Guillermo del Toro. Other filmmakers who were interested in an adaptation included Walt Disney, Al Brodax, Forrest J Ackerman, Samuel Gelfman, Denis O'Dell, and Heinz Edelmann.

The first commercial adaptation of Tolkien's works was the Rankin/Bass animated television special The Hobbit (1977). The first theatrical adaptation was Ralph Bakshi's animated film The Lord of the Rings (1978). This was followed by the Rankin/Bass animated television film The Return of the King (1980). The first live-action adaptations were European television productions, mostly unlicensed, made in the 1970s and early 1990s. New Line Cinema produced the Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001–2003) directed by Jackson, and later returned to produce his Hobbit film trilogy (2012–2014). The New Line franchise has received a record 37 Academy Award nominations, winning 17, and a record three special awards. To prevent New Line from losing the film adaptation rights, an anime prequel film was put into production. Subtitled The War of the Rohirrim, it was released in 2024. After Middle-earth Enterprises was acquired by Embracer Group, a new deal was struck with New Line to make two new films. The first was The Hunt for Gollum and is scheduled for release in 2027. In 2017, Amazon Prime Video bought the right to make a television series, separate from the New Line films. Titled The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, the first season was released in 2022 and the second in 2024. Three more seasons are planned. Some well-received fan films based on Tolkien's novels have been made; The Hunt for Gollum and Born of Hope were both uploaded to YouTube in 2009.

Unproduced early attempts

Tolkien watched films, but always mistrusted the medium and his books' suitability for dramatization. He had received fanmail on the matter, some proposing to adapt the works to film and some urging him to refuse such proposals. Tolkien and his publishers, Allen and Unwin, were willing to play along with film proposals, on condition of having a veto on creative decisions or in return for a sufficient sum of money.

Walt Disney

In 1938, Walt Disney considered adapting The Hobbit to animation. One of Disney's animators sent a memo suggesting that elements of The Hobbit and Richard Wagner's Ring cycle could be incorporated into Fantasia which was then in the making. According to the animator Wolfgang Reitherman, Walt Disney wanted to make a Lord of the Rings feature film in the 1950s, but his storyboard artists deemed it too complex, too lengthy, and too scary for the company. In 1972, the storyboard artist Vance Gerry pitched an animated adaptation of The Hobbit. He illustrated Bilbo, and produced a synopsis, stating that the Disney studios had "never done a cartoon with this much story", admitting that "there are far more incidents in the story than we could ever use" and that "many sections are too frightening for our purposes."

Al Brodax

In June 1956, the animator Al Brodax proposed an animated film adaptation to Tolkien's publishers. The final volume of The Lord of the Rings had only just been published in the US, and had not yet achieved the commercial success it reached later. Tolkien, nearing retirement and yet to see a substantial return from his writings, was cautiously interested, saying he would "welcome the idea" of a film, "quite apart from the glint of money", but nothing came out of it.

Forrest J. Ackerman

In 1956, Tolkien was approached by the American agent Forrest J. Ackerman about producing an animated film based on Tolkien's work for the amateur screenwriter Morton Grady Zimmerman. Ackerman showed Tolkien artwork by Ron Cobb and pitched Zimmerman's synopsis, which proposed a three-hour film with two intermissions. Tolkien said it was described to him as an animated film, but he professed to being ignorant of the process, and it is possible that Ackerman wished to make a primarily live-action film, using animation, stop-motion and miniature photography. Cobb scouted locations around California, impressing Tolkien with pictures of mountains and deserts.

Tolkien already had objections – Lothlórien was described to him as a fairy-castle, and he did not like the condensed story – but he liked the concept art, which he thought akin to Arthur Rackham as opposed to Walt Disney, whom he loathed. While Tolkien noted that a film "would be pleasant", he delayed in reviewing the synopsis until urged by Unwin. When he delivered his initial notes to Ackerman, the agent was granted a six-month option if he could find a producer to finance the project. He intended to make the film with American International Pictures, but its president James Nicholson declined, as did other studio heads.

Tolkien was sent a 55-page treatment by Zimmerman, which he greatly disliked. Keeping his own and his publisher's financial interests in mind, Tolkien was polite but largely critical of the script. He complained of divergence from not only the tone of the book (such as cutting elements "upon which [its] characteristic and peculiar tone principally depends") but also the character representation (such as Sam's leaving Frodo to Shelob and going on to Mount Doom alone). He took issue with dialogue changes as regards the "style and sentiment" of characters, and with intercutting between the storylines of Frodo and Aragorn, instead of the interlacing in the book. He suggested eliminating the battle of Helm's Deep to better emphasize the defence of Minas Tirith, and cutting characters instead of diminishing their roles. Tolkien protested against added "incantations, blue lights, and some irrelevant magic" and "a preference for fights".

Nevertheless, Tolkien did not wish to kill the project, saying "I think [it] promised well on the pictorial side." Ackerman filed to extend his lease to a year, but he was unable to pay for the extension, and negotiations ended. The treatment was criticised by Ian Nathan, Tom Shippey and others; Kristin Thompson noted the amateur nature of the enterprise, saying that it never represented a serious attempt at a commercial film. Zimmerman, who avoided filmmaking after this ordeal, donated his script to the Tolkien collection.

Robert Gutwillig

In 1959, Tolkien entered brief negotiations with Robert Gutwillig to adapt The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien told Gutwillig he had "given a considerable amount of time and thought" to a film adaptation, noting "some ideas concerning what I think would be desirable" as well as the "difficulties" involved. Tolkien spoke with Gutwillig's agent and producer, Samuel W. Gelfman. Their discussion was apparently amicable; Tolkien found Gelfman intelligent and reasonable, and Gelfman later recalled that they talked about the details of an adaptation, but nothing came of it.

Tolkien later received a suggestion in fan-mail to have The Hobbit adapted to a serial in four intervals, declined by his publisher Rayner Unwin for its potential to "incarcerate us in the local odeons for nine or ten hours."

BBC

Tolkien negotiated television rights separately. Carole Ward suggested adapting The Lord of the Rings for television in 1964, to air on the newly launched BBC2. ITV launched a competing offer, according to which the book would be adapted via puppetry, which Tolkien found contemptuous. Another attempt at purchasing the television rights was made in 1968.

United Artists

Live-action fantasy became fashionable in the early 1960s with the success of Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion productions. By 1967, Gelfman established Katzka-Bernie productions with Gabriel Katzka and entered negotiations with Tolkien to adapt The Lord of the Rings for United Artists, "with an option for The Hobbit." As with Snyder, the emerging contracts would provide United Artists with complete creative freedom over the works, and offered them first bidding at the television rights, which were negotiated separately but never sold to them.

Meanwhile, a couple of American teenagers unsuccessfully attempted to obtain the rights to The Hobbit. Joy Hill, Tolkien's secretary who worked for Allen & Unwin, was said to have contacted Disney for the rights at the time, perhaps to place United Artists in a competitive position. MGM were said to have been interested in the rights at that time.

United Artists were the studio behind several of the lucrative widescreen epics of the decade. In the 1960s, long widescreen epics (presented as a roadshow with an intermission) still proved successful, but few sequels were made in that genre, and therefore Katzka-Bernie commissioned Sir Peter Shaffer to write a treatment for a single, three-hour film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings. This was deemed "elegant", with The Hobbit in mind as a potential prequel. Merchandising was of little concern at the time, but the rights for such products were included in the contract. Negotiations extended until 1969, when the rights were sold off for $250,000 and 7.5% of gross receipts, minus expenses, to be paid to Tolkien. Shaffer's script never got off the ground, but the rights were sold to United Artists in perpetuity, including the option to pass the rights to another studio. The singer Arlo Guthrie pitched an animated feature to the studio, but UA were adamant they wanted the film to be live-action, although the contract options an animated film.

Stanley Unwin suggested that Tolkien's inexperience in dealing with movie producers led to the generous conditions of the contract. Now elderly, Tolkien's desire to set up a trust fund for his grandchildren could indicate that he might not have expected to live and see the resulting film, and wanted to use the profits to take care of his ailing wife. The increase in income tax rates at the time decreased Tolkien's profits from book sales, and he expected a fall-off in the sales in years to come. In 1968, Tolkien expressed skepticism about film adaptation of his works, saying "it's easier to film the Odyssey".

Apple Films

The Beatles were on a three-picture deal with United Artists. Their previous two features, A Hard Day's Night and Help!, directed by Richard Lester, were successful. When it became clear that the animated Yellow Submarine would not count as part of this deal, Denis O'Dell (head of the Beatles' Apple Films) entered negotiations for their third film. He came up with the idea of a Lord of the Rings "multimedia musical extravaganza", starring the Beatles as the four Hobbits. He learned that United Artists were in negotiations for the rights. In conversation with studio heads David and Arnold Picker, it was decided that a "star director" was required. O'Dell shortlisted David Lean, Stanley Kubrick, and Michelangelo Antonioni. Lean declined. O'Dell left to India to visit the Beatles, with the books in his suitcase. At the behest of Donovan, the band examined the books and began to think "seriously" about the idea. According to O'Dell, John Lennon fancied the role of Gandalf, but George Harrison recalled that Lennon then wanted to swap for Frodo. Ringo Starr wanted to play Sam, while Paul McCartney coveted Frodo. Lennon would have been Gollum, Ringo Sam, and Harrison Gandalf. Donovan was keen on Merry, and they wanted Twiggy for Galadriel.