Calling all Lord Of The Rings fans, it appears we’ll finally be getting more films, as Warner Bros has just announced they are expanding the franchise.
Now, fans will already be aware that the Rings of Power series has been an amazing hit for Amazon.
According to reports, the series, which has already been renewed for a second season, garnered twenty-five million viewers for its premiere, as it became the biggest opening in the streaming platform’s history.
If you’ve followed the franchise of the Lord Of The Rings, you would know that it all began with 2001’s The Fellowship of the Ring…
Followed by The Two Towers in 2002, and the following year with The Return of the King.
The series followed the story of adventurers who band together to help the hobbit, Frodo, which was played by Elijah Wood.
Eventually, the Hobbit would deliver the all-powerful One Ring to Mordor to be destroyed in the flames of Mount Doom. But we also witnessed Frodo’s closest companion Samwise, played by Sean Astin, and the dynamic duo of Merry and Pippin, played by Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd.
The much-loved franchise has since developed into the series known as The Rings Of Power.
And now, thanks to the success of the show, it seems we’ll be getting more middle earth content over the coming years.
The Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit’s IP rights were acquired by Embracer Group in August with the intention of expanding the brand. The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings of Power was created by Prime Video prior to that acquisition.
“I am truly excited to have The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, one of the world’s most epic fantasy franchises join the Embracer family, opening up more transmedia opportunities including synergies across our global group,” said Lars Wingefors, Founder and Group CEO Embracer Group, at the time.
“I am thrilled to see what lies in the future for this IP with Freemode and Asmodee as a start within the group. Going forward, we also look forward to collaborating with both existing and new external licensees of our increasingly stronger IP portfolio.”
And now it seems the franchise is going to continue to grow, as a new agreement has been reached for the studio to produce further Lord Of The Rings films, according to Warner Bros. President David Zaslav.
The Hollywood Reporter claims that a multi-year agreement has been reached between Warner Bros. Discovery and New Line and Embracer Group AB, which as of last year had the picture rights.
This news comes as The Lord Of The Rings: The War of Rohirrim, an animated feature produced by the studio is scheduled for release in theatres next year.
The news has received a lot of mixed reviews from fans, with one social media user writing: “I was *almost* excited- up until it’s all about trying to make money off the IP instead of trying to tell really good stories.
“This cannot end well, and if they *want* a film franchise so badly, they should be trying to build something from the ground up instead of destroying already established universes in their quest for profit.”
While another commented: “After the trainwreck they turned The Hobbit into, I’m not sure it’s a good idea. I love Tolkien’s work but outside of LOTR & The Hobbit, the other stories aren’t really conducive to a film without serious changes & dramatic license. The Rings of Power actually did a pretty good job at that, yet it was lambasted for not perfectly following Tolkien’s work. That said, if they can give us an amazing return to the quality storytelling of the LOTRs & learned their lessons from the disaster that was The Hobbit, then who knows, it could work.”
What do you think of the news?
