During the WBD Earnings call, David Zaslav announced that we’d be seeing more of Middle-Earth.
Fans of The Lord of the Rings, prepare yourselves for more tales from Middle Earth! Middle-Earth Enterprises, a division of Embracer Group AB, and Warner Bros. Discovery and New Line Cinema have reached an additional multiyear partnership to collaborate on new films in the series. The revelation was made by WBD President and CEO David Zaslav during a conference call to discuss the company’s Q4 2022 earnings results, but it shouldn’t come as a surprise given that the new CEO has promised to bring more properties to the big screen.
The Return of the King, the final installment of Peter Jackson’s original The Lord of the Rings trilogy, tied the record for a single movie with 11 Oscar nominations in 2004. For a trilogy of films based on The Hobbit, the company and Jackson once again worked together. The Lord of the Rings film series immerses viewers in J.R.R. Tolkien’s enchanted world of elves, hobbits, and humans. With a variety of intriguing characters and a mythos that mystifies viewers, the franchise offers viewers a wealth of storytelling chances.
“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 the Embracer Group’s operating company Freemode. The studio’s intention to “respect the past, look to the future, and adhere to the strongest degree of quality and production values” is also understood by the creators, he continued.
The Middle-Earth Universe of Tolkien is Still Mostly Unknown
Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy, co-chairs and CEOs of Warner Bros Pictures Group, said this about the new partnership: “Twenty years ago, New Line took an unprecedented leap of faith to bring the amazing tales, characters, and world of The Lord of the Rings to the big screen. The outcome was a groundbreaking sequence of movies that have won over generations of viewers. Noting further,
“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.”
It should be noted that Amazon defeated Netflix in a separate TV rights deal competition in 2018 to secure the rights with the Tolkien estate, publisher HarperCollins, and film studio New Line. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is the product of the streamer’s five-season commitment to bringing The Lord of the Rings to the streaming service. The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit are two of the Tolkien literary works that Middle-earth Enterprises exclusively has the rights to adapt for movies, video games, merchandise, stage productions, and other media.
Watch this space for updates as more information about the project becomes available.
