Warner Bros. And New Line Sign Deal To Develop New ‘Lord of the Rings’ Movies
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav announced during an investors call on Thursday that the company wants to be back in healthy business as soon as possible, and an important item on the agenda will be to develop new Lord of the Rings movies with New Line Cinema, following a multiyear deal they’ve signed with Embracer Group, the gaming-oriented conglomerate that acquired the rights last year.
The news comes as a surprise, but not a major one. We knew that Embracer Group was looking into getting back their investment in Middle-earth as fast as possible, as they announced last year immediately after the acquisition that they were interested in Aragorn and Gandalf spin-off films, just as a start. Whether that is the case or not, we shall see, but partnering with New Line and Warner Bros. seems like a win for everyone at the table — the gaming company gets to profit off of people with the necessary filmmaking expertise at the helm, and WBD looks to go back to their glory days of the 2000s — Return of the King became the #2 movie of all time after it opened, 20 years ago this December. The deal was already teased back in November by Zaslav in a similar call, when he also showed interest in developing more Harry Potter films.
From what we understand of the Middle-earth rights, unlike Amazon, it looks like WBD and New Line have carte blanche to develop whatever they want in whatever time period they’d like for their future movies. With great power comes great responsibility, and now it will be interesting to see whether they put into motion a Tom Bombadil spin-off movie, or actually go the Rings of Power route and develop an expansive, multifilm story that actually benefits from the vastness of the world that Tolkien created, instead of revisiting the same characters, locations, and time periods over and over again (see: Star Wars). Actually exploring the Fourth Age and the events following the War of the Ring would be a fascinating task for any creator.
Michael DeLuca and Pamela Abdy, heads of the Warner Bros. film division, said in a statement that they are not looking at revisiting the Jackson trilogy:
“Twenty years ago, New Line took an unprecedented leap of faith to realize the incredible stories, characters and world of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ on the big screen. The result was a landmark series of films that have been embraced by generations of fans. But for all the scope and detail lovingly packed into the two trilogies, the vast, complex and dazzling universe dreamed up by J.R.R. Tolkien remains largely unexplored on film. The opportunity to invite fans deeper into the cinematic world of Middle-earth is an honor, and we are excited to partner with Middle-earth Enterprises and Embracer on this adventure.”
Lee Guinchard, CEO of Freemode, a division of Embracer, acknowledged the huge challenge that they have ahead:
“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,”
It will still be years before we see any of this put into anything tangible, but talent agencies across town are surely already sending in their best pitches from the best writers to grab David Zaslav’s attention. The first to throw his hat in the ring has been Peter Jackson, who said in a statement: “We look forward to speaking with them further to hear their vision for the franchise going forward.” Whether or not he gets the call from WBD remains to be seen, but at least we hope that the studio learns from past mistakes and give some actual development time to whatever they cook over the next few years — one of the many reasons why The Lord of the Rings trilogy worked so well was that it stood on the shoulders of 3.5 years of pre-production, a path that was also followed by JD Payne and Patrick McKay for The Rings of Power. The Hobbit, however, was made in the middle of development hell, as Guillermo del Toro stepped down as director and Peter Jackson was forced to assume that role last minute.
Stay tuned for more Lord of the Rings news as this deal continues to develop. The second season of The Rings of Power is currently filming in the UK, and Warner Bros. also has an anime prequel film, titled The War of the Rohirrim and born from the previous Middle-earth deal, coming next spring to theaters.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
