The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum is the working title Warner Bros. and New Line used to announce an Andy Serkis-directed feature in which he also stars. A separate 2009 fan production called The Hunt for Gollum was directed by Chris Bouchard. The British Council records it as a 39-minute short.
Two Tolkien films with overlapping names
A search for The Hunt for Gollum can find the completed 2009 short while you are looking for the newer feature announcement. The year and directing credit are the quickest way to tell the records apart. A listing that names Chris Bouchard and gives the short runtime identifies the 2009 work. The feature announcement gives Andy Serkis as both director and star.
A New Line title card with The Lord of the Rings above The Hunt for Gollum fits the feature’s announced title. The studio marked that wording as a working title in its announcement. Use the company and Serkis’s credits if the wording changes or appears differently in later publicity.
Identify the production without borrowing the short’s story
Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens were announced as producers on the new Middle-earth film. The screenplay announcement names Walsh, Boyens, Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou. These credits connect it to a filmmaking team from earlier Middle-earth features and distinguish it from Bouchard’s project.
If you are comparing interpretations of Tolkien, keep the short’s credits and story attached to the 2009 production. When looking up the announced feature, use the expanded title and the Serkis credit. That resolves the identification question while leaving the finished film’s plot and timeline for a current studio synopsis.
Sources and review
- Warner Bros. and New Line Announce New Middle-earth Features — Warner Bros. Discovery Pressroom
- The Hunt For Gollum — British Council