New Lord of the Rings Movies Coming!

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav shared this good news during the company's Q4 2022 Review meeting on Thursday. Zaslav had stated in previous interviews that there was a need for more Lord of the Rings films on the big screen.

Warner Bros. Discovery has confirmed that after nearly a year of negotiations to renew the rights to new Lord of the Rings films, games and products, it has reached a long-term agreement with The Embracer Group that will allow multiple Middle-earth feature films to be made in the future.

Exactly 20 years after the Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King movie, which broke the Oscar record with the new agreement, the way for new films has been opened. Peter Jackson's six films have grossed nearly $6 billion at the worldwide box office.

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New Line and Warner Bros Animation are currently producing animation The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, which takes place 183 years before the events of The Lord of the Rings . The film, which tells the fate of the legendary king of Rohan, Helmet Tokmakel, is scheduled to be released in theaters on April 12, 2024.

Lee Guinchard, CEO of Freemode, the operational group of Embracer Group, said in a statement today:

“Following our recent acquisition of Middle-earth Enterprises, we are excited to embark on this new collaborative journey with New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Pictures and to bring JRR Tolkien's unique world back to the big screen in new and exciting ways. We recognize how valuable these works are, and working with our partners at New Line Cinema and Warner Bros Pictures, we plan to honor the past, look to the future, and remain committed to the strongest values ​​of quality and production.”

Warner Bros Pictures co-chairs and CEOs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy made the following comments about the deal:

“Twenty years ago New Line Cinema took an unprecedented risk by bringing the incredible stories, characters and world of The Lord of the Rings to the big screen. The result was a landmark film series embraced by generations of fans. But while both trilogies are comprehensively and lovingly made, the vast, complex, and dazzling universe envisioned by JRR Tolkien is largely unexplored in the movies. It's an honor to have the opportunity to invite our fans deep into the cinematic world of Middle-earth, and we're excited to partner with Middle-earth Enterprises and Embracer on this adventure.”

Regardless of this deal, Amazon acquired the series rights to The Lord of the Rings in a separate TV rights deal worth approximately $250 million in 2018. Featured on Prime Video, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power completed its first season starting in September 2022 and began filming for season 2.

New Lord of the Rings games are also coming!

In addition, Embracer Group, which now owns the rights to the Lord of the Rings video games with the acquisition of Middle-earth Enterprises, recently announced that a total of five Lord of the Rings video games will be released in the next two years. In its latest statement, Embracer Group stated that the company has 5 productions in production with its third-party partners, and they will be released in the next 24 months. The company hasn't directly announced these titles, but they likely include Daedalic's The Lord of the Rings: Gollum , Free Range Games' The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria , EA's mobile game The Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle- earth and Weta's new game with GTA company Take-Two, which has not yet been named.

The complexity of copyright also plays a role in the long absence of new Lord of the Rings movies. Middle-earth Enterprises is the worldwide exclusive motion picture, play, commercial, stage and other rights venture to certain Tolkien literary works, including The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. For over forty years they have licensed and produced films, plays, stage productions and commercial products based on these works. Embracer Group bought these rights from Saul Zaentz last August.

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