I think the only real complaint I have for the three films actually being a triology is that there is no unifying story arc. At least not as shown.

Ok, that is a terrible sounding paragraph. But I'll leave it there as a weak attempt at what I'm trying to say. He goes try number two.

While FotR, TTT, and RotK all can stand alone, with a biggining, middle and end; the quest of the ring links all three films. The stories from the Silmarillian are even more independent than the three volumes of Lord of the Rings. But still have that singular overarcing quest.
The Silmarils.
We all seem to have strayed from a prime focal point. Suddenly with this the focus of any "Silmarillian" films can change drastically.
Beren and Luthien would still be a prime story with direct influence on the Silmarils.
This would also mean that the voyage of Earendil and the war of Wrath have to be added to the mix. That really is the conclusion of the Silmaril arc. And really, the reason the Silmarils cause so much anguish is the Oath of Feanor that drives his sons to stike down anyone who would take and keep a Silmaril from their rightful owners, themselves.
Greed and the love of things is what drives the entire overarcing story. At least that's how I read it.
And then, with this as the overall story arc, it's not quite as much of a tradgedy story. Because in the end Melkor is overthrown, the Elves are welcomed back to Valinor, and some have proven the potential of men.

Thank you so much, Show, for setting us back on course. I admit that I strayed from the Silmarils in my pushing for the Big Three.

But the puzzle is this: How do you make a series about the Silmarils, from beginning to end, without it being 20 movies long? None of us want it to turn out like Harry Potter: manufactured films, delivered right on time every time, diminishing the quality and realism. We want every one to be handled with love and devotion like it is in itself the only important story.

To everyone: Let us reconsider our ideas, and see if we can come up with something that would be about the Silmarils, and not be more than 4 movies long. I myself will probably do a skim of the Silmarillion to refresh myself.

This is how I think a Silmarillion Trilogy should be like (if someone is ever worthy of doing it)

The Silmarillion: The Tale of Beren and Lúthien
Backstory-Morgoth stealing the Silmarils and the Battle of Sudden Flame
Backstory revealed during actual movie- explanations for Elven Immortality and Human mortality

The Silmarillion: The Children of Húrin
Backstory-The Battle of Unnumbered Tears
Backstory revealed during actual movie- The Oath of Fëanor and the divisions between the Noldor and Sindar

The Silmarillion: The Akallabêth
Backstory-Fall of Gondolin, the War of Wrath, Fate of the Silmarils, Creation of Numenor
Backstory revealed during actual movie- origin of Morgoth and the forging of the rings of power

I know the Fall of Numenor is not part of the Silmarillion, but it was included in the book The Silmarillion and besides there needs to be a unitied title (similar to the Lord of the Rings) to make it a movie trilogy, since everyone just loves movie trilogies so much

The reigns of Morgoth and Sauron as "Dark Lords" are very separate, and should be treated as such. Trying to tie the Fall of Gondolin and the War of Wrath into a single movie would already make for a very long movie, let alone starting up the entire cycle of Evil (after a break of several centuries). The Akallabeth would be possible in a trilogy-plus-one format, though I think the Quenta Silmarillion would itself require at least four films to be told properly.*

*On second though, I don't think it can be told properly at all. It's not a story or novel in anything resembling the common usage of the terms.

BTW, welcome to the forum! Happy posting.

Pick a tale and adapt it into a movie. Each story has its own flavor. Film it that way. If we end up with twenty or so superb movies, that would be.... well... superb!

Imagine a story set in Primeval Britain. Then another in Celtic Britain. Then another in Renaissance Britain. Then one... Hey! Think of the time gaps in the Silmarillion!

Yep! I say find the tale you like and film it according to the flavor Tolkien gave it at the time. Let's not bother LotRizing the Silmarillion - no smoothing and retrofitting! .

The Silmarillion is a collection of myths and legends - some tales (including the poems T wrote) have more than one version! Choose the one you like, I say, and film it!

I'm not sure what you mean by "LotRizing" in the case of the Silmarillion Odo . It was constantly under revision, and if anything, both The Hobbit and LotR were "Silmarillionized" or at least attempted to.

But in any case, I mostly concur with how you suggest The Sil be filmed. Though I think in some cases some stories might be more suitable to be filmed as one story than others. For example: Ainulindale, Valaquenta, and the first 3 chapters of the QUenta Silmarillion (through The Coming of Elves and the Capture of Melkor could be one epic film that shows the creation of Middle Earth, Man and Elf (and possibly Hobbit) and Dwarf), and how Melkor betrayed Creation and his first capture. Each segment of this first movie could be chaptered and titled like the book. And following films could continue the chaptering in order.

I still think an "Animatrix" approach would be a good way to film the different stories, using various traditional and modern styles of Animation, but perhaps utilizing more and more Live Action as Middle Earth approaches the Third Age.

GB

Thinking about this some more, I feel torn as to what would be the best way to adapt the Silmarillion were that to be attempted. On the one hand, it's a bunch of stories grouped together into an anthology of sorts, which suggests some form of serialization. On the other hand, some of those stories are so epic that they would require feature length films to be shown with proper scale and grandeur. Part of me thinks that a series of films tied together by a TV series might work (better than the alternatives, at least).

Well, that's why a form of serialization that isn't strictly slavish to following precisely each chapter would be best. Obviously some stories like Beren and Luthien stand well enough alone. Whereas the first few chapters I mentioned would be best grouped together to form a cohesive story that starts with Creation and ends with the Capture of Melkor. There aren't any hard and fast rules here. A series of miniseries would be one way of pulling this off, as would special release DVD's (like the Animatrix).

GB

If I were to film Caligula, and then someone else filmed the destruction of Rome 500 (or so) years later, and then someone else filmed the Life of Da Vinci, we would end up with three Italian stories. Why make a series? The test is to make good films. A serialization of the Silmarillion (serialized in any fashion!) would not only be to too hard to film in a consistent way, but also quite ridiculous to film in a consistent way. We don't want to see the same (dread) movie over and over again. Each story has it's (dare I say it?) flavour! The Silmarillion is, as has been quite rightly recognized by both of you, a selection of tales from Tolkien's Mythos and Legendarium. Even if you didn't word it excatly this way, I take it this is what you meant. Forget series. Think: separate Masterpieces!

Exactly! I couldn't agree more. Serialization could work but it isn't a necessity. What is more important is combining chapters that tell a coherent story, or separating chapters that are complete stories in and of themselves. And that is what is cool about a franchise like the Matrix series. There is a main trilogy with live action and CGI, and the Animatrix which has historical segments, side stories, and personal interest stories (much like the Silmarillion)--each story in a distinctive style of traditional or CGI animation. The originator of this sort of format is the animated film Heavy Metal. I know I keep harping on it, but I think this is the model that would work best. It's sort of Zen ; the Non-serialized Serial.

GB