To paraphrase my buddy and former film critic Brandon Fibbs, “One dollar to rule them all, one dollar to find them, one dollar to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them.”
That’s right, get ready for more Lord of the Rings live-action films! Warner Bros. Discovery and new rights holders Embracer Group’s Middle-Earth Enterprises have agreed to New Line Cinema develop more movies set in the land J.R.R. Tolkien built. New Line Cinema is the studio responsible for Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies. However, there’s no mention of Jackson anywhere in the announcement, so it does not seem that he is involved.
Then again, who knows? Deadline was able to get a statement from Jackson and his writing team of Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens about the announcement.
“Warner Brothers and Embracer have kept us in the loop every step of the way,” the Oscar-winning trio told Deadline. “We look forward to speaking with them further to hear their vision for the franchise moving forward.”
Given that Amazon didn’t seek Jackson’s input on their Lord of the Rings streaming series, he might not give a damn. He’s spent a lot of time on this franchise and might be ready to be done with it.
Nothing on the creative side has been revealed about these new movies. We don’t even know what particular Tolkien stories will be adapted. The Second Age is off-limits as Amazon is using that right now, but there are loads of other stories that could work on the big screen.
Coming from New Line next year is the animated prequel film, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, from director Kenji Kamiyama. The story takes place about 250 years prior to events in Peter Jackson’s films, and centers on the fateful battle at Hornburg, later known as Helm’s Deep after Rohan king Helm Hammerhand, voiced by Brian Cox. Gaia Wise voices Hammerhand’s daughter, Hera, with Miranda Otto reprising her role as Eowyn.