New The Lord of the Rings Movies: Will They Be a Reboot, Remakes, Sequels, or Prequels?

In case you haven’t heard, there will be new movies about The Lord of the Rings, as Warner Bros. Discovery has just recently announced that it would be partnering with Freemode, which is an arm of Embracer, to deliver new movies in the future. While we know that new movies will be released years from now, we hardly know anything about these upcoming LOTR movies. So, will the new Lord of the Rings movies be a reboot, remakes, sequels, or prequels?

There is a good chance that the new Lord of the Rings movies will reboot the entire franchise. After all, Warner Bros. Discovery isn’t a stranger to rebooting movie franchises, as seen in the DCEU. However, this fresh reboot could bring in opportunities to tell stories that could be sequels or prequels.

The thing about the movie and television industry today is that long-term storytelling has been the trend, as more fans are looking to watch movies that have long-term ramifications for the future of the entire movie franchise. In that regard, rebooting a franchise like The Lord of the Rings should be a good way for Warner Bros. Discovery to retell the entire story and make more movies from Tolkien’s Legendarium.

Are the New LOTR Movies Remakes, Sequels, or Prequels?

One of the things that we know about The Lord of the Rings is that it is one of the most storied trilogies of all time, as Peter Jackson did a fantastic job in telling the story of JRR Tolkien’s beloved masterpiece by bringing it to life on the big screen. Of course, the entire LOTR trilogy won numerous awards and is arguably the most successful trilogy of all time regarding its reception.

Then again, it has been around 22 years since the first Peter Jackson LOTR movie was released and almost two decades since it ended with the release of The Return of the King. While we did see a prequel story in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy, the LOTR trilogy still has a special place in the hearts of those who saw them, as there are still many people rewatching the films from time to time (yours truly included).

But news from Warner Bros. Discovery was released regarding the LOTR franchise. We know that Freemode, which is a group under the Embracer company that owns the movie and video game rights of The Lord of the Rings, has the sole right to bring Tolkien’s Legendarium back to the big screen. But the good news is that Freemode recognizes the importance of the original trilogy and how it affected mainstream pop culture.

“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.”

That is why Warner Bros., New Line Cinema (the original producer of Jackson’s LOTR), and Freemode work together to produce new movies about The Lord of the Rings. The stress here is that multiple new movies will be released sometime in the future, although we are still uncertain when that will happen. But will these movies be remakes, or are they sequels or prequels?

It is possible that these movies will serve as remakes because they will retell the entire LOTR storyline differently. While everyone knows that the Peter Jackson LOTR trilogy will remain one of the true GOATs of the film industry, there may be a need to remake the new movies or deliver new ones that are based on the same source material, especially when it comes to the long-term plans of the company. After all, continuity is so important to film franchises today.

In that regard, if the first few movies of the new LOTR film franchise are remakes of Jackson’s LOTR trilogy, there’s a good chance that new doors will open for sequels and prequels. After all, there are a lot of different stories that can be told regarding Tolkien’s Legendarium, as he still has a lot of works and books that are left untouched by the film industry. For example, The Silmarillion and The Children of Hurin are works that fans want to see on the big screen due to how expansive their stories are and how important these books are to the history of Middle-earth.

As such, the remakes might serve as a way for Warner Bros. and Freemode to open more opportunities and possibilities for Tolkien’s Legendarium. And this is why there’s a good chance the LOTR franchise will be given fresh remakes.        

Will the New LOTR Movies Reboot the Franchise?

We believe the LOTR movies that Warner Bros. and Freemode will produce will retell Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. But will the new LOTR movies reboot the entire franchise?

There’s a good chance that the new movies will reboot the franchise. That’s because it has been more than 20 years since the release of Peter Jackson’s first LOTR movie. Meanwhile, the first movie of The Hobbit was released more than ten years ago. That means that it has been a long time since Peter Jackson’s movies were released, and that means that 20 years are more than enough for Warner Bros. to reboot the entire franchise.

Of course, this isn’t the first time that Warner Bros. decided to reboot a successful movie franchise. When Warner Bros. and Discovery merged to become Warner Bros. Discovery, changes were introduced to the entire company. In that regard, we saw how the DCEU was given a fresh reboot, which will probably start after the release of the final DCEU movies from the last generation.

In that regard, rebooting the entire LOTR franchise will allow it to grow alongside Warner Bros. Discovery and its quest to find a film franchise that it can rely on to push the company forward. After all, Disney has the entire MCU and even relies heavily on the Star Wars franchise.

The future of today’s movie industry has focused on long-term storytelling, which is why continuity is so important. Considering that it has been more than 20 years since Jackson’s LOTR trilogy was released, it would be too difficult to make new LOTR movies that are faithful to the original trilogy’s original continuity. And that’s why a reboot should be the best way for Warner Bros. to establish proper continuity between all its LOTR movies.

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