The first trailer for the highly anticipated movie The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim has dropped – and it is going to make fans very excited! You’ll want to watch it right away:
Staffers at TheOneRing.net are abuzz over this trailer. We’ll be bringing you our reactions (including some below), but first, let’s look at what the official press release has to say:
Héra voiced by GAIA WISE in New Line Cinema’s and Warner Bros. Animation’s epic anime adventure ‘The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim’, a Warner Bros. pictures release. Photo courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures
New Line Cinema’s original anime feature “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” returns audiences to the epic world brought to life in “The Lord of the Rings” Trilogy, based on the revered books by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Under the direction of award-winning filmmaker Kenji Kamiyama (the “Blade Runner: Black Lotus” and “Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex” TV series), the talented voice cast is led by Brian Cox (“Succession”) as Helm Hammerhand, the mighty King of Rohan; Gaia Wise (“A Walk in the Woods”) as his daughter Héra; and Luke Pasqualino (“Snowpiercer”) as Wulf. Miranda Otto, who delivered an unforgettable, award-winning performance in “The Lord of the Rings” Trilogy, reprises her role as Éowyn, Shieldmaiden of Rohan, who serves as the tale’s narrator. The voice ensemble also includes Lorraine Ashbourne (Netflix’s “Bridgerton”), Yazdan Qafouri (“I Came By”), Benjamin Wainwright (“World on Fire”), Laurence Ubong Williams (“Gateway”), Shaun Dooley (“The Witcher”), Michael Wildman (“Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw”), Jude Akuwudike (“Beasts of No Nation”), Bilal Hasna (“Sparks”) and Janine Duvitski (“Benidorm”).
Set 183 years before the events chronicled in the original trilogy of films, “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” tells the fate of the House of Helm Hammerhand, the legendary King of Rohan. A sudden attack by Wulf, a clever and ruthless Dunlending lord seeking vengeance for the death of his father, forces Helm and his people to make a daring last stand in the ancient stronghold of the Hornburg—a mighty fortress that will later come to be known as Helm’s Deep. Finding herself in an increasingly desperate situation, Héra, the daughter of Helm, must summon the will to lead the resistance against a deadly enemy intent on their total destruction.
With Kamiyama at the helm, the original feature is being produced by Oscar winner Philippa Boyens, from the screenwriting team behind “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” Trilogies, alongside Jason DeMarco and Joseph Chou, who, in addition to their many separate animation projects, collaborated on the “Blade Runner: Black Lotus” series. The executive producers are Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson, Sam Register, Carolyn Blackwood and Toby Emmerich. The screenplay is by Jeffrey Addiss & Will Matthews and Phoebe Gittins & Arty Papageorgiou, story by Addiss & Matthews and Boyens, based on characters created by J.R.R. Tolkien. The team of creative collaborators returning from “The Lord of the Rings” Trilogy also includes Oscar winners Alan Lee and Richard Taylor, along with esteemed Tolkien illustrator John Howe.
A New Line Cinema Presentation, a Warner Bros. Animation / Sola Entertainment Production, “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim,” will be distributed theatrically worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, released in cinemas nationwide on December 13, 2024, and internationally beginning 11 December 2024.
Héra voiced by GAIA WISE in New Line Cinema’s and Warner Bros. Animation’s epic anime adventure ‘The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim’, a Warner Bros. pictures release. Photo courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures
Staffer greendragon has a few preliminary thoughts:
Actually I’m kind of speechless! WHAT a trailer. Chills and excitement. Cannot wait to visit this version of Middle-earth; PJ’s vision but now through the eyes of Kenji Kamiyama. Thrilling.
0.01 Hello old friend. It’s been so long since we’ve had a trailer with these sounds, with these visuals… I’m kind of ridiculously emotional.
0.04 In case you had any doubt whose version of Middle-earth this is…
0.16 Yes please. I want to go there.
0.23 This is a beautiful shot; and cleverly brings us right into Kamiyama’s visual world. “OK, you love how Peter Jackson brought Tolkien’s realm to life; but check out THIS version of it!”
0.44 Breathtakingly beautiful.
0.55 It is so fun seeing the Golden Hall – familiar but also new.
01.18 Well that’s the exposition covered then…
01.19 Seriously, it is crazy how emotional this makes me. And sure, maybe this trailer overplays that, and rather manipulates us. But I’m ok with that; I have so many happy memories of looking forward to revisiting PJ’s version of Middle-earth in the holiday season. (I wonder if The Hunt for Gollum will also end up with a holiday release date? December 2026, maybe…?)
01.28 Echoes of Theoden; reminds me of ‘What can men do against such reckless hate?’
01.33 Not sure about Héra’s outfit; it looks strangely space-age in this shot. Makes me think of cartoons like ‘Battle of the Planets’. But, it will probably read differently in the context of the film.
01.39 This is a very cool visual. I don’t know enough about anime to know how this effect is achieved, but it reminds me a bit of the blend of styles in Bakshi’s ‘The Lord of the Rings’.
01.46 The eagles are coming!
01.50 Is this THE Watcher in the Water, or just A Watcher in the Water? If it’s the one, why is Héra in Moria?
01.54 Now that’s interesting – that shot totally reminds me of Galadriel climbing ice in Season 1 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Intentional or just serendipity?
02.14 I love the 3D effect of the title.
02.17 An orc gathering rings as Sauron searches for the One! Will this be our only glimpse of anything to do with the Ring legend…? And also, is that Andy Serkis’ voice I hear?
Wow. So excited for this movie.
Staffer Demosthenes here:
I’ve been wanting to see finished animation for The War of the Rohirrim for yonks. Descriptions out of Annecy and SDCC, while cool in themselves, aren’t especially useful for forming a personal judgement. Stills will only get you so far. You need to see it moving.
Now, with a teaser in hand that combines action and dialogue and sound, it’s the moment of truth. (well, the first of them.)
As someone who does watch a fair bit of anime, it was reassuring: although I wish it was a little more fluid in character animation, it’s still very solid. The character designs look good (quite detailed, too, and that increases the level of work for staff) and move well. The horses feel almost like a triumph – I loved the clods of earth the charge we saw was throwing up; very dynamic — given the difficulty of that task. And the backgrounds don’t jar by looking too real/photorealistic.
Fights feel realistic and don’t indulge in over the top physics — something that is fine for, say, Demon Slayer, but would be, I think, counter to the general tone of Middle-earth. It fits the world that it’s meant to be portraying.
This is crucial: it sounds and looks and feels like Middle-earth.
If there’s one thing I’m not sure about, it’s the Watcher-like creature. I don’t love monsters for the sake of them and it’s a long way from Moria to Rohan. Perhaps there’s a good contextual explanation, though.
I’ve always really liked the Helm story – it might be my favourite one out of the appendices. I can see the bones of that story here: the marriage proposal, the fight, and the consequences that follow for Rohan and its various people.
The trailer teases later events and the Hornburg climax without revealing it fully. If you don’t already know the Helm story, or what happens to Helm and his family, this trailer is a bit of a mystery actually!
I’m keen to see it all unfold on screen.
By-the-by, industry talk is that in the USA, Rohirrim trailer is attached to Beetlejuice. Can’t confirm that, but that’s the rumour.
(L-r) Wulf voiced by LUKE PASQUALINO and General Targg voiced by MICHAEL WILDMAN in New Line Cinema’s and Warner Bros. Animation’s epic anime adventure ‘The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim’, a Warner Bros. pictures release. Photo courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. also announced today that they will be attending New York ComicCon. We’ll also be hosting a War of the Rohirrim panel at DragonCon next week, complete with an interview with producer Jason DeMarco. News on all these happenings soon!
BREAKING NEWS: it seems that Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Andy Serkis are all going there and back again, as Warner Bros. today issued an astonishing press release:
WARNER BROS. PICTURES AND NEW LINE CINEMA ARE SET TO REUNITE WITH THE OSCAR WINNING LORD OF THE RINGS AND THE HOBBIT TEAM PETER JACKSON, FRAN WALSH, AND PHILIPPA BOYENS FOR TWO NEW FEATURE FILMS FROM J. R. R. TOLKIEN’S MIDDLE EARTH, TWO-DECADES AFTER THE NEARLY $6 BILLION DOLLAR FILM FRANCHISE WAS FIRST INTRODUCED TO AUDIENCES
THE FIRST FILM LORD OF THE RINGS: THE HUNT FOR GOLLUM (*WT) WILL BE DIRECTED BY AND STAR LORD OF THE RINGS ALUMNI ANDY SERKIS
JACKSON, WALSH, AND BOYENS WILL PRODUCE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE HUNT FOR GOLLUM (*WT), WITH WALSH AND BOYENS SET TO WRITE THE SCREENPLAY
Burbank, CA — May 9, 2024 – Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group’s Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy announced today the Oscar-winning team behind the nearly $6 billion blockbuster Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyensare reuniting to produce two new films from Tolkien’s Middle Earth for Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema.
The first of the two films Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum(*WT)will be directed by and star Andy Serkis (Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle), with Walsh and Boyens set to write the screenplay, along with Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou (Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim). The film will be executive produced by Ken Kamins, with Serkis and The Imaginarium’s Jonathan Cavendish.
Said De Luca and Abdy, “For over two-decades, moviegoers have embraced the Lord of the Rings film trilogy because of the undeniable devotion Peter, Fran and Philippa have shown towards protecting the legacy of Tolkien’s works, and to ensure audiences could experience the incredible world he created in a way that honors his literary vision. We are honored they have agreed be our partners on these two new films. With Andy coming aboard to direct Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum(*WT), we continue an important commitment to excellence that is a true hallmark of how we all want to venture ahead and further contribute to the Lord of the Rings cinematic history.”
Said Jackson, Walsh and Boyens, “It is an honour and a privilege to travel back to Middle-earth with our good friend and collaborator, Andy Serkis, who has unfinished business with that Stinker – Gollum! As life long fans of Professor Tolkien’s vast mythology, we are proud to be working with Mike De Luca, Pam Abdy and the entire team at Warner Bros. on another epic adventure!”
Said Serkis, ““Yesssss, Precious. The time has come once more to venture into the unknown with my dear friends, the extraordinary and incomparable guardians of Middle Earth Peter, Fran and Philippa,” said Serkis. “With Mike and Pam, and the Warner Bros team on the quest as well, alongside WETA and our film making family in New Zealand, it’s just all too delicious…”.
…
The announcement of the new films follows the previously announced New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Animation’s anime feature film Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim opening this Christmas. Directed by Award winning filmmaker Kenji Kamiyama (Blade Runner: Black Lotus and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex series), the film is produced by Boyens, Joseph Chou (Blade Runner: Black Lotus), and Jason DeMarco.
The writing team of Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou penned the Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim screenplay based on a script from Jeffrey Addiss & Will Matthews. The Lord of the Rings returning creative team also includes Oscar winners Alan Lee and Richard Taylor, along with esteemed Tolkien illustrator John Howe.
It is with great sadness that we share the loss of Bernard Hill, who brilliantly embodied King Théoden of Rohan in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. He passed away today, May 5, 2024, at the age of 79. Hill’s portrayal of Théoden is etched in the memory of us all, expertly capturing the noble and transformative journey of the Rohan king, from despair to heroic resurgence.
His performance delivered lines that have resonated deeply within all of fandom. Potentially most memorably on the Battle of the Pelennor Fields…”Ride now, ride for ruin, and the world’s ending!” Bernard Hill holds a rather unique record in that he has starred in not one, but two films that grossed over $1 Billion and won 11 Academy Awards each.
While Hill also famously appeared as Captain Edward John Smith in Titanic, his legacy is particularly revered in our community for his role as Théoden, which brought to life a beloved literary character with profound respect and fidelity to the source material. Bernard Hill’s artistic contributions have left an indelible mark, ensuring his memory will live on through his significant impact on film and particularly within the Tolkien legendarium.
The staff at the OneRing.net extend our deepest condolences to Bernard Hill’s family, friends, and colleagues around the world. The cast of the LOTR films are known to be a close-knit family, so here are a few photos of those happy times.
The Cast of The Lord of the Rings won the SAG Ensemble award. The Return of the King premiere in Westwood, CA in December, 2003 outside the Bruin Theater.
New Line Cinema and Adult Swim’s upcoming anime film spinoff to The Lord of the Rings, titled The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, is still shrouded in mystery even after an industry-only preview last summer. The all-star production, starring Miranda Otto and Brian Cox, is led by Oscar winning LOTR Executive Producer Philippa Boyens and the highly respected production team behind Blade Runner: Black Lotus and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.
The initial announcement in 2021 listed the Emmy winning writing team behind Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews, who spent a year exploring the story. Since then the script has gone through normal retooling, eventually landing a new credited screenwriting duo: Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou.
Billed as the next generation of writers by EP Boyens, childhood friends Phoebe and Arty initially were brought in to write background dialog for the movie. Through the creative process, it became apparent that their youthful perspective – raised on the exploding growth of anime — helped the film’s collaboration with the Japanese director Kenji Kamiyama and animation studio Sola Entertainment. Plus, who better to tell the story of Héra [Editor’s note: the name’s not taken from the Greek, but from the Anglo-saxon] than someone closer in age?
In a brand-new interview with Nerd of the Rings, writers Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou join excecutive producer Philippa Boyens for an in-depth conversation on bringing the history of Rohirrim and Rohan’s shieldmaidens to the big screen. Enjoy this exclusive preview of the conversation, edited for format and clarity, which will be posted in full tomorrow.
Delivering the characters where Kamiyama needs them to be
Q: Tell us a bit about Helm Hammerhand (namesake of Helm’s Deep from The Two Towers)
Phoebe: I find one of the most redeeming qualities of Helm in the film is his love for his children. Sounds a little cheesy but some of my favorite parts of the storytelling is the relationship between Helm and Héra (his daughter and main protagonist of the film). There’s a lot of tension and a lot of conflict there, but you know at the heart there is this deep father-daughter bond. Those moments were really special, writing and working on those. That’s one of my favorite things about Helm: this love for his children. It’s so nice.
How do we as writers deliver the characters to a place that Director Kamiyama want them to be at the end of the film? That was a really fun journey to try and take on, and figure out how to do that.
Q: Did you guys revisit the films before embarking on this?
Phoebe: Didn’t really need to. I grew up with them!
Arty: I grew up around the corner from Weta Workshop. But also growing up in Wellington at that time it was infectious. It was impossible not to be captivated by this huge film being shot in the hills behind you. At night you go to bed and you look up to the hills behind with film lights. Might be normal in other places, but it certainly wasn’t normal in Wellington. It really was just like the coolest thing! My friends and I still watch the movies every Christmas, so it wasn’t a matter of trying to fall back into the world of the cinematic Middle-earth. Here was a really amazing opportunity to try and think about animation and Anime, and how that could bring a fresh look not only visually but also thematically.
Philippa: I remember the hesitation. I thought you guys would turn us down (to write on Rohirrim)!
Arty: The deep respect for what had already been done! It’s stressful because what’s going on here? It’s just what comes with it. There’s these podcasts and bloggers and YouTube channels (looks at Nerd of the Rings) who are going to judge and fly out to your country to meet up with you while you’re trying to finish the film to make sure you’re doing a good job. So that was came with a lot of a lot a lot of trepidation!
Phoebe: For us, we didn’t see foresee that being a problem because so many of the same players are making this film. You have Philippa producing, but you also have the same sound teams. You have Mike Hedges (LOTR). You’ve got Steven Gallagher composing (The Hobbit). You’ve got John Howe, Alan Lee, Richard Taylor. For us, that opened up space to be like, how do we make this blend with the world of anime. It was actually more about coming from that direction. We knew the film was in pretty sick hands!
Q: Well you guys grew up on anime too.
Arty: We grew up not just on anime but Japanese cinema in general. That wasn’t the brief (for Rohirrim) but I was such a fan of different Japanese genre films and directors. It just seemed like, this is such a cool opportunity to draw on a whole bunch of other influences in adapting this material. It ended up going from this is really scary, to wowthis is so exciting. Then what sold us completely was seeing some concept art and it was like, oh hell yeah.
It also helped that we happen to be in Covid lockdown in Queenstown, and we’re walking daily by different LOTR film locations. So that probably helped a lot as well to get in the zone.
Phoebe: Yeah we were in the zone!
Q: Did you have any moments like that where you a saw an interesting connection to what has come before?
Arty: What is interesting is re-reading the books. You sort of pick up on different things and like, oh wow, it really is informed by some of these things which took place in the books. Whether at the time we were totally aware of it or not, you know it was just ingrained in us. That’s been interesting.
The full interview with Boyens, Gittins and Papageorgiou
Like what you’re hearing from the writers of the new LOTR film? This spur-of-the-moment opportunity for Matt (Nerd of the Rings) to chat with them during his filming schedule at Weta Workshop was a real treat one the first time these new writers have ever done an interview. The full conversation is 90 minutes on his YouTube channel. Join TORn’s daily active chat about Rohirrim on Discord.
Big thanks to Matt at Nerd of the Rings for sharing his exclusive interview for The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim. Watch the entire conversation on YouTube, and join us on TORn Tuesday as Matt talks about landing the interview and other fun facts he learned. War of the Rohirrim releases in December 2024 in theaters worldwide.
TORn’s complete The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim coverage
Twenty years on from the theatrical release of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, fans continue to celebrate the monumental achievements of Peter Jackson and the team who brought Middle-earth to life. New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment (WBHE) have shared with us a twelve-minute look at the making of LOTR: ROTK pulled from the archives featuring new 4K remastered footage.
Back when midnight openings were a thing, fans around the world lined up to be the first to watch Return of the King in cinemas with heralded hype. The runtime of 3 hours and 21 minutes did not dissuade anyone as book fans knew there was a lot of story to cover, and the DVD releases of the longer Extended Editions had primed audiences for a longer, well-told story. The finale exceeded anyone’s expectations. The Return of the King made $1.1 Billion at the box office, making it the second-highest grossing movie of all time at release. It was still #1 at the box office in its 4th week!
Above, Peter Jackson attends TheOneRing.net’s Fellowship of the Ring Oscar Party in 2002. Below, Peter Jackson returns to the 2004 fan party for Return of the King with all the Oscar trophies in hand. Return of the King matched the record for most Oscars ever won by any movie, and is the most-awarded film worldwide of all time.
In addition to the video above from WBHE recognizing Peter Jackson’s achievement, fans are celebrating together with a global watch-along on Sunday December 17 to mark the 20th anniversary of the release of Return of the King. Also look out for a new Art of Costume podcast with the award winning costume designer Ngila Dickson.
In the 20 years since its record setting award winning run, The Lord of the Rings films have become the benchmark of filmmaking with just the right balance of practical and digital effects, location and digital shooting, innovation and classical performance, and maintaining a fidelity to the source material while at the same time introducing changes benefiting the medium of film. Fans have made watching these films an annual event, and the wide use of LOTR memes are unsurpassed in quantity and relevance.
Peter Jackson is adored worldwide and fans still enjoy diving into the BTS Appendices on 4K, Bluray and DVD. Now that New Line Cinema has a fresh long-term deal to make new LOTR spinoff movies, could Jackson return to Middle-earth? His producing partner Philippa Boyens is already bringing WAR OF THE ROHIRRIM to cinemas in December 2024, telling the story of Helm Hammerhand and the history of the Rohan Shieldmaidens. Jackson doesn’t need to get back to LOTR after winning Emmy Awards with The Beatles (and directing his first ever music video for them) but, based on the daily conversations happening on our forums and discord, LOTR fans are ready for a trustworthy hand to manage the future of Tolkien’s expanding legendarium.
Before Rotten Tomatoes, TORn had RINGER REVIEWS for fans to share right after watching the film
Happy 20th anniversary to Return of the King, a film that made us all cry (multiple times) by channeling the best of J.R.R. Tolkien and the humanity of his stories. It remains the high water mark of fantasy filmmaking even today.
We hear via Deadline that Warner Bros. Animation is putting back the release of its animated feature film The War of the Rohirrim to December 2024. The new release date is December 13. Previously it was to open worldwide on April 12.
The seven-month delay is seemingly part of a cascade started by the shift of the release of Dune: Part 2 to March 15 — a slot previously occupied by Godzilla X Kong. GxK’s one-month delay has subsequently forced WOTR into a new date.
Deadline notes that the only other movie set for a December 13 2024 release is Sony’s The Karate Kid.
However, other reasons both sentimental and practical might have contributed to WOTR being pushed back seven months.
First, for Warner Bros. and New Line Cinemas, releasing films from the Middle-earth milieu is virtually a tradition now. That ought to play well with the fandom. Producer Jason DeMarco certainly seems to think it’s a lucky one.
Source: Jason DeMarco twitter account. Supplied by TimB
Second, it’s no secret that the last several years have seen numerouswell-credentialled anime series experience production crunches that have caused substantial release delays. Animator overwork and schedule slippage now seem so regular that insiders are asking themselves whether this situation is simply “the new normal”.
Further, film director Kenji Kamiyama and Sola Entertainment (the animation studio) CEO Joseph Chou commented recently at Annecy Film Festival about the weight of work that remained on The War of the Rohirrim and that they were seeking additional talent to help with the film.
While they mostly seem done, Kenji and Joseph have a lot more to do, they’re still deep in the production process. Kenji seemed stressed! “Probably the biggest film he’s ever worked on”. Kenji kept talking about the challenge of it, and was clearly still thinking deeply about “how he’s gonna finish this film.”
Joseph jokes about how the crew is going to have to work nights and weekends to finish this movie, which really bummed me out. Can we not normalize the brutal working hours in animation? I expect better tbh.
In that context, an extra seven months might also have been a prudent production decision.
About the author: Staffer Demosthenes has been involved with TheOneRing.net since 2001, serving first as an Associate News Editor, then as Chief News Editor during the making of the Hobbit films. Now he focuses on features and analysis.The opinions in this article are his own and do not necessarily represent those of TheOneRing.net and other staff.
