New Lord of the Rings films in development at Warner Bros.

Twenty years after the third film of the famed Lord of the Rings (LOTR) franchise was released, recent reports state that Warner Bros. intends to make more movies in the fantasy series. The studio and its subsidiary, New Line Cinema, have signed a pact with the Swedish gaming company Embracer Group.

Embracer Group currently holds rights to LOTR films, merch, games, live productions, and theme park attractions. In August last year, the Karlstad-based firm acquired the rights to Middle-earth Enterprises (formerly known as Tolkien Enterprises) from its previous owner, The Saul Zaentz Company.

Striking a multiyear deal with Embrace will thus enable Warner Bros. to make as many films around the LOTR universe as the studio plans to.

This gratifying development comes as the production giants are busy readying their upcoming anime fantasy film, LOTR: The War of the Rohirrim, also based on The Lord of the Rings book by J. R. R. Tolkien.

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Deal to entitle Warner Bros. to make “multiple” Lord of the Rings films

During Thursday's investor meeting to discuss its Q4 2022 earnings, Warner Bros. president and CEO David Zaslav announced the studio’s strategy to roll out “multiple” movies based on Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings series.

Zaslav added that the deal was cracked by Warner Bros Film Group’s CEOs and Co-Chairpersons Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy.

He, however, stopped short of revealing how much it cost the firm.

No director, lead actor, or other members of the cast have as of yet been announced. However, LOTR and The Hobbit trilogies’ creator Peter Jackson and his two LOTR collaborators, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, told Variety that Embracer and Warner Bros. "have kept us in the loop every step of the way" about the new agreement and films.

The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, boasting an average IMDb rating of 8.8, created history upon its release. The series was a huge financial success, raking in an astounding $2.991 billion worldwide. The film won 17 Academy Awards out of a total of 30 nominations.

So, the new LOTR film series has enormous shoes to fill.

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What do we know of the upcoming Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim?

The War of the Rohirrim is the seventh film in the Middle-earth audiovisual canon, established by Peter Jackson.

Helmed by Japanese anime director Kenji Kamiyama, the LOTR: The War of the Rohirrim cast comprises names like:

• Brian Cox
• Miranda Otto, reprising her Lord of the Rings character as Éowyn
• Gaia Wise
• Luke Pasqualino
• Laurence Ubong Williams
• Shaun Dooley

Meanwhile, the release date for LOTR: The War of the Rohirrim is April 12, 2024. The trailer isn't out yet, but almost a fortnight ago, a preview of the conceptual art that will be displayed in the film was released.