What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of fantasy?
For most people, it’s The Lord of the Rings – the books, but also the highly acclaimed movie trilogy. Even though they’re old, the movies still hold up. And a lot of modern fantasy movies and video games still use them as a source of inspiration, after all.
If you didn’t get a chance to see the movies, or would like to re-watch them to satisfy your nostalgia or just because they’re so good, you’re probably wondering – can you watch them on Netflix?
Well, we have bad news and good news.
Yes, you can watch The Lord of the Rings trilogy on Netflix. But here’s the problem – the movies aren’t available everywhere Netflix is. You can only watch them in specific countries. In this article, we’ll tell you which ones, and also show you how to unblock them.
Where Is The Lord of the Rings Series Available on Netflix?
There’s no exact data about this online, but luckily there’s a very simple Netflix unblocker tool (StreamCatcher) that tells you what you want to know. Just look up the movies on it, and you’ll see a list of countries where they’re available.
According to StreamCatcher, this is the current availability:
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Hungary, India, Israel, Lithuania, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, South Korea.
- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers – Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Hungary, India, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, South Korea, Switzerland.
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Hungary, India, Israel, Lithuania, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland.
They’re available in a lot of countries, sure, but it’s nowhere near as close to how many countries Netflix is available in (over 190!). That’s not really fair – especially if you are from a country where a Netflix subscription is more expensive (like Switzerland, where a subscription can range from $13 to $24 per month).
Why Is The Lord of the Rings Only Available in Some Countries?
Because Netflix only has licensing rights for those regions. The company doesn’t own the trilogy, so they have to license the content from the copyright holders.
Unfortunately, it seems like they weren’t able to get global rights for these movies. They could only do it for the countries listed above.
Why?
Probably because the copyright holders sold the rights for other regions to other streaming sites and TV networks. They might have done that before Netflix launched in those countries, or simply because it was a more profitable move.
Whatever the reason, Netflix can’t start streaming the movies worldwide. It would breach the licensing agreements they signed, and might even result in them getting sued. So they geo-block the movies on their site to make sure only people from countries they have licensing rights for watch them.
Will Netflix Ever Buy Licensing Rights for the Movies for Your Country?
There’s no way to know for sure. You could send them an email asking them this, sure, but we don’t think the average support rep has access to this kind of information.
It really depends on what Netflix’s data mining says, really. If their analytics show that people in your country aren’t that interested in these movies, the company won’t buy licensing rights for your region.
It sounds a bit harsh, we know, but keep in mind that Netflix dedicates a huge part of their budget to licensed content. They can’t really make a huge investment without first being sure it would be profitable in the long run (result in subscription renewals or attract new users).
How to Unblock The Lord of the Rings on Netflix (Quick & Easy)
The solution is very convenient – just use a VPN. It’s an online tool that spoofs your geo-location by stopping sites from seeing your IP address.
How does it do that?
Simply put, it routes your connection requests through a VPN server that sits between you and Netflix. Basically, it intercepts your traffic, and then forwards it to Netflix for you. Because of that, the site thinks your requests are coming from the VPN server, so it only sees its IP address.
That means that as long as you use a VPN server that’s in a country where The Lord of the Rings trilogy is available, you’ll be able to watch it.
Plus, VPNs come with a bonus perk – since they encrypt your traffic end-to-end, your ISP can’t see that you’re watching Netflix. That might not seem important, but it can stop them from throttling your bandwidth (selectively slowing down your speeds for Netflix).
Just make sure you pick a VPN that actually unblocks Netflix. Otherwise, you’ll end up seeing the Netflix proxy error very often. To find one, use this Netflix unlocker tool from ProPrivacy.
Can You Use Tor to Unblock The Lord of the Rings on Netflix?
Tor hides your IP just like a VPN, so it can unblock Netflix content, right?
In our experience, no. And since Netflix is on the list of services that can block Tor, that’s not really surprising.
Even if you somehow manage to unblock The Lord of the Rings on Netflix with Tor, you won’t enjoy watching the movie. The speeds are really slow since Tor encrypts and decrypts your traffic at least three times. Also, there are only around 6,000 servers and roughly two million users. So there’s not enough bandwidth for everyone.
Bottom line – use Tor for privacy, not to stream content.
Were You Able to Unblock The Lord of the Rings on Netflix?
If yes, did you encounter any issues? Or did you use a different unblocking method? If you did, please tell us about your experience in the comments.
