The Lord of the Rings is one of the biggest film series in the history of movies. However, Warner Bros. Discovery still wants more out of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth.
Warner Bros. Discovery is building a new cinematic universe based on Tolkien’s novels. The studio hopes to emulate the success of the Star Wars Universe with its lineup of movies, TV shows, and video games.
Tolkien’s Middle Earth is the setting for The Lord of the Rings film series and the spin-off The Hobbit. Recently, Amazon released the first TV show, The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power, which was very well received by fans of the novels.
An industry insider revealed to The Hollywood Reporter that Warner Bros. Discovery and Amazon hope to create a universe that will rival Disney’s Star Wars.
This news comes shortly after Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav announced the company and New Line Cinema have finalized a deal with Embracer Group to make new films for The Lord of the Rings franchise.
The new movies are expected to be new titles and will not be remaking the classic film trilogies made by Peter Jackon. The project will focus on other stories within Middle Earth during the time of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
There are reports that Warner Bros wants Peter Jackson and his screenwriters Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens to be on board this new project. The trio made almost $3 billion at the box office with the first trilogy and won a total of 17 Academy Awards. The prequel trilogy also made almost the same amount of money at the box office.
One thing that The Lord of the Rings has going for it is that Tolkien created a massive world complete with races, languages, kingdoms, and legendary characters. The source material also spans several thousand years filled with stories and adventures. There is still so much material from Tolkien's novels, short stories, and manuscripts that can be made into movies and TV shows.
Amazon has committed to developing the stories for the Second Age of Middle Earth with The Rings of Power TV series. The show is slated to run for a total of five seasons, narrating the story of how Sauron created the Rings of Power which is central to Tolkien’s universe.
The second season of The Rings of Power is currently in development. It promises to be even bigger than the maiden season with new characters being introduced and the appearance of Sauron.
J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies are available for streaming on HBO Max while The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power can be streamed on Amazon Prime Video.
