Millions of new books are written every year. Only a few become a commercial success. Only a handful are read by over a million people. The market test that a bestseller must pass is titanic.

For a book to become and remain popular for decades it must be truly exceptional.

To take a classic, a work of genius, like Lord of the Rings and decide to replace the plot and dialogue with something cooked up in a month by a scriptwriter with a couple of works to their name... It's the pinnacle of hubris. It is legendary arrogance.