“Lord of the Rings” fans can expect new movies from Middle-earth. As the industry magazine “The Hollywood Reporter” reports, the film studio Warner Bros. has secured the “Lord of the Rings” film rights. Warner Bros. and its film label New Line Cinema, which was also behind Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” and “Hobbit” trilogies, have therefore entered into a multi-year deal with Embracer Group AB. The Swedish media group currently holds the film rights to J.R.R. Tolkien’s (1892-1973) most famous works “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit”.
In contrast to Amazon, which only holds the TV rights to the so-called Second Age of Middle-earth, the new deal allows Warner Bros. to use iconic characters such as Gandalf, Aragorn or Bilbo Baggins. It remains to be seen whether the film studio will dare to do a new edition of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.
In a joint statement, Warner Bros. co-executives Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy said: “For all the scale and detail lovingly poured into the two trilogies, the vast, complex and overwhelming universe that J.R.R. Tolkien dreamed up is largely unexplored in the film”. Now it is planned to “invite fans deeper into the cinematic world of Middle-earth”.
It is likely that Warner Bros. will begin development of one or more Lord of the Rings film projects. This was also confirmed by the British news portal BBC. Warner Bros. is said to have more films in the pipeline.
The release of the animated film “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” has previously been announced for April 2024. The anime movie takes place around 200 years before Jackson’s film series about Frodo, Aragorn and Gandalf. The “Lord of the Rings” film trilogy brought in almost three billion US dollars at the box office at the beginning of the millennium. All six of Warner Bros.’ Middle-earth films combined grossed $6 billion.
