Lord of the Rings fans slam Warner Bros after forcing takedown of beloved fan film

The Lord of the Rings franchise is getting a new movie, but Warner Bros. has angered fans after taking down a fan-made 2009 short film with the same title.

On May 9, 2024, it was announced that Peter Jackson is returning to produce The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, a new movie directed by and starring Andy Serkis. While fans were quickly excited, scrutiny arose.

According to IGN, Warner Bros. has sent a copyright strike to Independent Online Cinema forcing them to take down their fan-made film from 2009. Why? It happens to have the same exact title.

The video has racked up over 13.6 million views on YouTube since its release 15 years ago. A search for the fan-made movie comes up unavailable, explaining, “This video contains content from Warner Bros. Entertainment, who has blocked it on copyright grounds.”

With this news, Lord of the Rings fans have been left in a bit of a pickle. They’re stuck between their excitement for Jackson’s new movie and disappointment, considering how well-received the original short film had been.

“Honestly this deed, removing this film, is deplorable and despicable,” said a fan on Reddit. “Are they now retroactively claiming the name in copyright? The fan film existed for 15 years and was seen by many millions of fans around the world. People worked for this film, for its acting, editing, filming, music-composing — all that for nothing, for a film colossus to erase it just because they wanted to make an unnecessary film with the very same name?”

Another fan chimmed in over its absuridtiy saying, “I will never understand moves like this. Literally no one will pass on watching the movie because some fan film exists. Same with gaming companies that take down every fan project (Nintendo obviously). I‘ve read before, that it is to protect the IP, but other companies encourage that stuff and don’t lose the IP.”

What was the logic behind the copright strike? Some believe its a promotional tactic. “It’s about people searching for ‘Hunt for Gollum’ and finding this instead of the media campaign for their film. It may not be the nicest move, but it is rational,” one speculated.

The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum is expected to release in 2026, and you can read more about whether Rings of Power is connected to the movie. As well as other new movies this month.