Evidently, the mid-2020s are the era of Gollum-mania. This morning, it was announced that the Gollum-centric film Lord of the Rings: The Hunt For Gollum is in the pipeline for 2026.

News of the film was met with trepidation from Lord of the Rings fans who seemed understandably gunshy after the last property that put the "Precious"-craving creature in the spotlight, 2023's The Lord of the Rings: Gollum video game, was widely considered one of if not the worst games of the year.

One of the central criticisms about that game, regardless of its sloppy gameplay, was that it seemed misguided to base an entire property around one of the most pathetic characters in the Lord of the Rings franchise.

However, there is some cause for optimism that The Hunt For Gollum will be better than the Gollum game, beyond that being an extremely low bar to clear. Peter Jackson, director of the beloved cinematic trilogy, will produce the film, and Andy Serkis, the original actor for Gollum, will reprise the role and direct the film.

Furthermore, while the premise of the film has yet to be revealed, fans of the Lord of the Rings books suspect there could be a good movie made about Gollum-centric plot points that weren't adapted into the original trilogy.

Some have hypothesized the film will center around a briefly mentioned plot point in which Aragorn tracks Gollum in the Dark Marshes to deliver him to King Thranduil.

The Hunt for Gollum will face a tall task to reach the heights of the original trilogy and revitalize the Lord of the Rings franchise, which some could argue has seen diminishing returns after The Hobbit trilogy and the 2022 television series Rings of Power.

The animated Lord of the Rings film, The War of the Rohirrim, is still on track for a December 2024 release.