Why should you sign this?
First, because you love Tolkien's fantastic world and want to see more of it come to life.
Second, convince the Tolkien Estate to sell the rights to J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Silmarillion".
Third, if made, the series will be one of the greatest works of art ever made.
The main reason for the series and not the movies is the genius of Tolkien’s writing in compressing all that enormous amount of material, spread over the vast ages of time, in just one book. I’ve read hundreds of books and no one comes even close to the master. The 3 movies just wouldn't do him justice.
Time Warner (HBO) already made a tremendous worldwide success with George R.R. Martin's "Game of Thrones" tv series. Everyone thought "GoT" couldn't be televised, but Benioff and Weiss proved them wrong. As Martin has been called a "modern day Tolkien", so "The Silmarillion" can follow "GoT" example to the small screens. There are many Tolkien fans in the World. It can be done, if enough people show interest in it. We need to start a massive movement. Very few people are familiarized with the situation. The Tolkien Estate owns the rights to Tolkien’s books. They are “not happy”, to say the least, with Jackson’s interpretation of Tolkien’s vision and message. That is what happens whit lawyers and loophole contracts (Sauron couldn’t destroy Middle Earth, but lawyers…). So they feel betrayed and they learned their lesson with “The Hobbit” and don’t want to repeat it with “The Silmarillion”. I can understand that, but Jackson is not the only movie director in the World. Let them choose the producer and director if they want.
How to get people to start talking about it?
Stephen Colbert (the biggest Tolkien fan) gave the best example how everybody can contribute in their own way. “Vin Diesel wants to play Melkor (Morgoth)”, he said on “The Late Show” and in an instant, millions of people started thinking about Tolkien and “The Silmarillion”. Go to silmarillionseries.com. You’ll see that, not only is it possible, but doable. Now imagine how it would look with millions invested in it.
P. Jackson recommended a 72 part movie. Everyone can participate in their own way. Let Silmarillion loose on the Internet. Go on Facebook, Twitter, mail… whatever you think will get the conversation going. We should generate as many “tweets” and “likes” as possible. Use blogs, chat rooms, websites, etc. The goal is to create a popular demand for the series, get so many fans on board that it becomes overwhelming. It’s not the question “if” it will get done, but “when”. They will sell the rights sooner, or later. Our job is to convince them of the former. I wrote the petition, there is silmarillionseries.com rough concept, Vin Diesel will play Melkor… you do what you can. For start, sign this please.
