Warners Orders Fan-Made 'Lord of the Rings' Movie Removed From ...

“It is mine, I tell you!” Gollum cried. “My own. Yes, my precious!”

The precious, in this case, is movie title copyright and it will not be shared, will it precious?

One day after Warner Bros. announced anew Lord of the Rings movie, titled The Hunt for Gollum, a popular 15-year-old fan-made film with the same title has been ordered taken down from YouTube.

The fan film likely contains the same story concept that’s fueling the new project, which is being developed by producer Peter Jackson and his writing partners Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, who “will be involved every step of the way.” Andy Serkis is on board to direct and reprise his role as Gollum. The fan movie has been replaced by a message from YouTube: “This video contains content from Warner Bros. Entertainment, who has blocked it on copyright grounds.”

The film, directed by Chris Bouchard, is rather ambitious. The Hunt for Gollum spans 39 minutes and received plenty of praise upon its release. It’s been viewed 13 million times. The film opens with a detailed disclaimer that seemingly tires to ward off a copyright take-down request, saying the project is a non-profit film for private use and is not affiliated with the Tolkien estate, Jackson, or any studio, and is produced “solely for the personal, uncompensated enjoyment of ourselves and other Tolkien fans.”

The film was set during opening act of The Fellowship of the Ring and filled in a quest that was only briefly discussed in Jackson’s 2001 film: Gandalf (played by Patrick O’Connor in the short) meets with Aragorn (Adrian Webster) and asks him to hunt for Gollum to find out more about Frodo’s magic ring. Aragorn has a series of adventures, traps and loses Gollum and gets attacked by orcs and Ringwraiths. Gollum is recaptured by the Elves of Mirkwood, and he’s interrogated by Gandalf.

Warner Bros. made the surprise LOTR announcement Thursday during its first-quarter earnings conference call and noted that Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum was a working title.

Yet the prospect of a movie seemingly centered around the tormented creature which Jackson and Serkis so memorably brought to life in the original trilogy is receiving some heavy skepticism from fans online. The CG-enabled character was, after all, a rather ideal supporting character — so very specific and, at turns, amusing and detestable. A little Gollum went a long way, and he was always balanced by the grounded performances of his traveling companions played by Elijah Wood (Frodo) and Sean Astin (Sam).

But given the storyline suggested by the fan-made short, the film’s lead character might actually turn out to be Aragorn, with Gandalf and Gollum in more supporting roles.

It’s unclear if the fan-made film helped inspire WB’s project. But one suspects that the popularity of the video game The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, which was released last year, was at least part of the project’s inspiration.

This story originally posted May 9, 10:45 a.m. and has been updated with the movie being removed.