Summary
- Warner Bros.’ animated Lord of the Rings film, The War of the Rohirrim, has been delayed from April to December 2024 due to other film delays caused by the actors strike.
- This delay aligns the film with the release windows of previous Lord of the Rings films, creating a December opening shared by the franchise.
- 2024 is shaping up to be a significant year for Lord of the Rings fans, as it will also potentially see the release of Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 and an untitled Lord of the Rings game from Wētā Workshop.
Amid a slate of upcoming film delays, Warner Bros.’ upcoming animated feature Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim has been one of the latest movies to have its original release date pushed back. Helmed by anime director Kenji Kamiyama, Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim will tell the story of Helm Hammerhand, the legendary King of Rohan who lived 183 years before the events of the main Lord of the Rings trilogy. While the movie takes place in a different era to Peter Jackson’s live-action films, Miranda Otto will return to voice her character Éowyn as the new film’s narrator.
Per The Hollywood Reporter, Kamiyama’s animated Lord of the Rings entry has now been moved from its original April 12, 2024 release date to December 13, 2024. While this change is the result of a knock-on effect which saw other 2024 Warner Bros. releases such as Dune 2 and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire pushed back because of the ongoing actors strikes, it does have the benefit of aligning this new film with the release windows of the previous Lord of the Rings films, which all shared December openings.
Why 2024 Could Be Become A Battle For Middle-earth
While viewers eager to see J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth return to cinemas may be disappointed to learn they will now need to wait a little longer, 2024 has the potential to prove a boon for fans of the iconic fantasy series. Not only will December deliver Warner Bros.’ animated take on the franchise, but Prime Video’s own The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 may also possibly be released sometime during the year as well.
Additionally, Wētā Workshop, the special effects studio responsible for delivering the props and visual effects for Peter Jackson’s films, is also working on an as-yet untitled Lord of the Rings game slated for release in 2024. With such an abundance of content spanning different media, 2024 is quickly shaping up to become one of the most plentiful and important years for the Lord of the Rings fanbase.
Moreover, with Warner Bros. and New Line announcing earlier this year that they would be working on several new Lord of the Rings movies to follow Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, it does not seem that audiences will be lacking for content moving forward. Where once adaptations of Tolkien’s works were often few and far between, the future is looking increasingly brighter for those who yearn to experience more of Middle-earth on their screens.
Source: THR
