Warner Bros. Discovery and CEO David Zaslav have big plans for The Lord of the Rings and are hoping to transform the saga of Middle-earth into a Star Wars style franchise. Words that will fill many a Lord of the Rings' fan with dread. Revealed in a report by The Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. Discovery is following in the modern cinematic footsteps of several major studios and “circling its wagons ever tighter around familiar IP” as it focusses on brands such as DC and “hopes to turn LOTR into a Star Wars-like franchise.”
The news comes following the multiyear deal made between Warners Bros., New Line Cinema and Embracer Group, with the studio now planning on making new Lord of the Rings movies. Zaslav declared the planned comparison between The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars during a company’s earnings call, and likely means that Warner Bros. will launch all manner of sequels, prequels, and spinoffs, as it attempts to imitate the success of the tales told a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.
It has now been two decades since director Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy came to its epic conclusion in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. All three installments in the trilogy were major cinematic events, much like Star Wars, and were met with critical acclaim, audience adoration, and winning 17 Academy Awards out of 30 total nominations.
Again, much like the original Star Wars trilogy (you can certainly see where Warner Bros. got the idea), The Lord of the Rings movies are now considered untouchable by many. But this will not stop Warner Bros. from attempting to craft the same “shared universe” approach now underway with the Star Wars franchise.
Peter Jackson Has Hinted at His Involvement in New Lord of the Rings Projects
Warner Bros. announced earlier this month that new movies based on The Lord of the Rings are now in the works, with filmmaker Peter Jackson, who also helmed The Hobbit trilogy, revealing that he is being kept “in the loop” regarding these projects. “Warner Brothers and Embracer have kept us in the loop every step of the way,” Jackson and his writing team of Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyes said in a statement. “We look forward to speaking with them further to hear their vision for the franchise moving forward.”
While we await what turning The Lord of the Rings into Star Wars will involve exactly, Amazon will continue their take on the literary classic in a second season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Set during the Second Age of Middle-earth's history, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power takes viewers back to an era in which great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were tested, hope hung by the finest of threads, and the greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkien’s pen threatened to cover all the world in darkness.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 will consist of eight episodes and is expected to premiere in 2024 on the streaming service Amazon Prime Video.