Lord of the Rings Reportedly Fast Tracked New Anime to Keep Movie Rights

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim has now hit theaters across the United States, and the film was reportedly fast tracked through its greenlighting and production stages so that New Line Cinema could keep the feature film rights to The Lord of the Rings franchise. Warner Bros. Discovery has been increasing their involvement in the anime world in the last few years with all sorts of new projects adapting their other franchises. This has included DC Comics releases such as Suicide Squad Isekai and Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League, and the theatrical release for a new The Lord of the Rings anime film.

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According to a new report from Variety, The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim only made $4.6 million USD during its opening weekend in domestic theaters and their assertion is that it’s not going to be considered a failure. Not only did the anime film have a budget of $30 million (which it should be able to get closer to when it ends its box office run), but the film making money at the box office wasn’t the driving factor behind it getting the greenlight. According to their report, it was “fast tracked” through in order to maintain New Line Cinema’s control of the feature film rights.

The War of the Rohirrim Reportedly Got Made For Other Purposes

The Lord of the Rings‘ creative team is reportedly working on new Gollum focused feature films (with Andy Serkis) and other projects for the franchise, and Variety asserts that The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim was fast tracked and developed to keep the rights under New Line Cinema while these future live-action projects are being developed for a release in 2026 and beyond. It’s yet to be revealed how correct this report is truly going to be, but it does make some sense for the franchise as a whole. With streaming TV series projects hitting Prime Video, it has been some time since a film has fully hit theaters.

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim also falls in line with Warner Bros. Discovery’s new initiative to expand more of their franchises through anime adaptations, and it likely seemed as a safe bet. The film recruits some major talent from the anime world, and highlights a new story from J.R.R. Tolkien’s original The Lord of the Rings novel materials. This film’s success also hinges on potentially more The Lord of the Rings releases in the future, so this could also be a perfect way to test the waters.

The War of the Rohirrim Isn’t Doing So Well in Theaters

Outside of its box office numbers for the opening weekend, however, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim isn’t doing so hot critically either. The anime film is set over 180 years before the events of The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, The War of the Rohirrim is currently sitting at 51% percent with Rotten Tomatoes critics and at 83% with audiences. It’s being touted as a less “epic” experience than the films that had proceeded it, and some have even noted how it’s an “overlong” film.

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim was already an experimental undertaking when it was first announced, so it’s not entirely surprising to see the film’s not quite catching fire yet with fans in theaters. But it’s also likely fit for a much better stretch among fans when it’s made available for streaming and anime fans start to show their support for the project.

HT – Variety