The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim will be released theatrically on Dec. 13. The new animated film in the beloved franchise explores stories from J.R.R. Tolkien’s world. This time, it goes beyond the canonical narratives already established in his legendary trilogy and The Hobbit. After a period with few adaptations, recent years have seen an increase in audiovisual interpretations of Tolkien’s work. However, some still feel like it’s not enough.
It’s Rohirrim time. Set 183 years before Peter Jackson’s film narrative, The War of Rohirrim tells the story of the legendary Helm Hammerhand, the King of Rohan, in a kingdom inhabited by humans facing threats from the terrifying Dunlendings. The film features a strong anime aesthetic and is directed by Kenji Kamiyama. The Japanese director is known for working on several Ghost in the Shell installments and the recent Blade Runner: Black Lotus.
The Lord of the Rings will be around for a while. It’s been a long time since so many adaptations of Tolkien’s work have coincided in the audiovisual realm. The high costs associated with producing these adaptations have resulted in a significant gap in new projects. The last film adaptation of The Hobbit was released in 2014. Interestingly, there’s also been a lack of new video games. The successful Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War were released in 2014 and 2017, respectively, while the unfortunate Gollum and Return to Moria came out in 2023.
Amazon’s adaptations. The world of Lord of the Rings returned to the spotlight in 2022 with the release of Amazon’s The Rings of Power. Although fan reception was mixed, the series succeeded in reigniting interest in the franchise, leading to a slew of new projects. These include a Gollum-centric movie and up to five seasons of The Rings of Power. There’s also an MMORPG from Amazon Games that’s still in development, as well as a more modest game titled Tales of the Shire. New film adaptations of the original books might also come out in the future.
It’s never enough. If you feel that there’s an oversaturation of projects inspired by Tolkien’s work, you’re probably alone in this. Embracer Group is the entertainment and video game conglomerate that holds the rights to The Lord of the Rings. It reported a 10% decline in its entertainment and services division in mid-November. Part of the shortfall was attributed to the Tolkien intellectual property, which is deemed too expensive and has yet to yield significant products each year.
The War of the Rohirrim is just the beginning. However, it’s not solely Tolkien’s fault. Embracer has faced a 46% decline in PC and console game sales across its other licenses, with titles such as PayDay 3 and Remnant II underperforming.
Still, the company is optimistic that the Lord of the Rings intellectual property will improve following the release of The War of the Rohirrim. CEO Lars Wingefors expressed confidence in the shareholders’ recent report, saying that the upcoming animation film could drive revenue growth. He hopes it’ll encourage viewers to explore the company’s Return to Moria video game.
Image | Warner Bros. Pictures
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