The Lord of the Rings is one of the most popular storylines in recent memory. He is a trilogy that was able to enjoy movie adaptations that captivated a lot of fans throughout the world. Considering that LOTR is still one of the highest-grossing trilogies of all time and is one of the most successful in terms of its critical reception, this trilogy is still one of the all-time greats even though it has been nearly 20 years since the trilogy ended in 2004.
In that regard, 20 years are more than enough for filmmakers to decide to create new LOTR movies that will tell bigger stories in a fictional world that is a lot larger than what the LOTR book was able to tell. The truth is that JRR Tolkien’s fictional universe has a lot of different stories to tell, which means that there are more movies to be made, and this is why The Lord of the Rings is going to get new movies. So, with that said, let’s look at what we know so far.
There Will Be Multiple Movies
The first thing we know about the movies about The Lord of the Rings is that there will be multiple films. Of course, this follows the same formula the first two trilogies used, as Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings was a trilogy. Meanwhile, he followed up the success of his LOTR movies by bringing in a trilogy based on The Hobbit book by JRR Tolkien as well.
This is all because one or two movies cannot easily tell Tolkien’s works, which means that there have to be several movies that need to be made to truly give justice to the stories he wrote and the fictional universe that he created. As such, the new LOTR will be multiple movies.
But the thing is that we aren’t sure how many movies will be made in this new LOTR deal. The only thing that we know is that there will be multiple movies that will be produced. And we aren’t even sure if these movies will retell the original LOTR storyline or tell a new story based on JRR Tolkien’s other works.
Warner Bros Will helm it.
More than 20 years ago, the first LOTR movie was created by New Line Cinema, a film production company under Warner Bros. Discovery. Of course, we know that the LOTR television rights have since been purchased by Amazon, which means that only Amazon Prime has the right to produce television shows about this fictional universe.
However, Freemode, a division of Swedish entertainment company Embracer Group, acquired the movie rights to the LOTR franchise, which means that this company has the right to produce feature films regarding Tolkien’s works. But because Freemode recognizes the importance of The Lord of the Rings and how cherished Peter Jackson’s New Line Cinema movies were, they decided to work alongside Warner Bros. Discovery.
“Following our recent acquisition of Middle-earth Enterprises, we’re thrilled to embark on this new collaborative journey with New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Pictures, bringing the incomparable world of J.R.R. Tolkien back to the big screen in new and exciting ways,” said Lee Guinchard, CEO of Freemode. “We understand how cherished these works are, and working together with our partners at New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Pictures, we plan to honor the past, look to the future, and adhere to the strongest level of quality and production values.”
After studio heads Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy signed a deal with Freemode, Warner Bros. will produce the movies with sister company New Line Cinema and Freemode. As such, Warner Bros. will likely be at the helm of producing these new films, with New Line Cinema working alongside it. However, since Freemode is the company with the rights to the film, the final decisions regarding the movies are likely up to that company.
Still, the fact that Freemode is willing to work with Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema is great news because of how Peter Jackson’s trilogy was so successful and is still being talked about by many people today. It is possible that Freemode decided to give Warner Bros. the driver’s seat due to the company’s experience in producing multiple LOTR movies.
The Movies Are Unlikely to be Connected to the Series
Again, Amazon owns the television rights to The Lord of the Rings. With that, Prime produced the successful The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which saw a fantastic first season. The series tells the story of how the Rings of Power were created and how Sauron rose to power by creating the One Ring.
While The Rings of Power is kind of like a prequel story to the entire LOTR storyline, this series is independent of Peter Jackson’s LOTR trilogy because they were both produced and helmed by different companies and people. Even though Amazon Prime tried its best to stay faithful to the beloved Jackson trilogy, The Rings of Power is still independent.
In that regard, the upcoming movies are highly unlikely to be connected to the Amazon series because they come from different companies. But because the upcoming movies and The Rings of Power are all based on the same source material, Tolkien’s Legendarium, it is hard not to see a possible connection between them.
It Is Likely a Reboot
Those who have read Tolkien’s other books besides The Lord of the Ring and The Hobbit would understand that his Legendarium has a larger universe. The entire universe spans thousands of years in terms of its storytelling, meaning many more stories can be told in books like The Silmarillion and The Children of Hurin. And there are plenty of fans wishing for movies that are based on these books.
However, even though there are still a lot of stories left to be told in Tolkien’s Legendarium, we believe that the new movies will likely reboot the entire LOTR franchise and will talk about Tolkien’s most popular work, which is still The Lord of the Rings. Even though Jackson’s trilogy is still being talked about and rewatched by fans today, 20 years are more than enough for a filmmaker or a production company to decide to reboot the entire storyline and remake new movies based on the same source material.
That is why there is a good chance that the upcoming movies will be based on The Lord of the Rings and will reboot the entire franchise to give way for more movies that can be made using Tolkien’s works as references. After all, more fans are more familiar with The Lord of the Rings than any of Tolkien’s other books, and that means that rebooting a franchise by making movies based on this book is a good way of getting fans into these movies.
