The “Lord of the Rings” franchise has only just made its comeback to the small screen: Amazon’s billion-dollar series “The Rings of Power” premiered on Prime Video in 2022 and Season 2 is already in the works. But the eye of Middle-earth fans is now drawn to a project of perhaps even greater proportions: There are new The Lord of the Rings feature films in the works from Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema, who also made the legendary The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
And by that, we don’t mean The Lord Of The Rings: The War Of Rohirrim animated movie, which Warner has scheduled for a theatrical release on April 11, 2024. As revealed on Warner Bros. Discovery’s recent investor conference, Warner has struck a deal with the current rights holder, Swedish gaming giant Embracer Group AB – and can now release new films based on JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings books and The Hobbit.
Unlike Amazon’s “The Rings of Power”.
That means that Warner has a very different basis for the movies than Amazon has for the “Rings of Power” series – because only the information about Middle-earth of the Second Age from these books and Tolkien’s appendices are allowed to be used there. However, “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” themselves are set in the Third Age, and Warner Bros. may return to this – and maybe even with the help of Peter Jackson?
Peter Jackson, director of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films, has already commented on the deal. Jackson explained that he and his writing partners Francis Walsh And Phillip Boyens are in close contact with Warner: “Warner Brothers and Embracer kept us informed every step of the way. We look forward to further discussions with them to hear their vision for the future of the franchise.”
Peter Jackson follows the developments
So the trio, who won Oscars for The Lord of the Rings, apparently haven’t said a firm yes to involvement, but they haven’t said no either. In any case, Peter Jackson and his colleagues want to hear what is planned and are following developments with interest – and so far seem to be in line with that. By the way, Peter Jackson is not involved in Amazon’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”. However, we think it’s entirely conceivable that he could now be persuaded to return for feature films, at least as a producer.
As exciting as this development is, little is currently known about the possible new films. It remains to be seen exactly what the new installments of the fantasy saga might look like – but if the Embracer Group has their way, they should adopt what’s already known in the first place. When Embracer finalized the rights deal in 2022, a press release said it was now “considering films based on iconic characters such as Gandalf, Aragorn, Gollum, Galadriel, Eowyn, or other characters from JRR Tolkien’s literary works.” In any case, the new films should not be remakes of Peter Jackson’s cult films.