Warners Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said today that the next Peter Jackson movie based on The Lord of the Rings is likely coming in 2026.
Based on new storylines by Jackson and his longtime writing partners Fran Walsh and Philippa Jane Boyens, the new film is in the early stages of script development, Zaslav said during an analyst call today.
That bodes well for Embracer Group, which through its Embracer Freemode division’s Middle-earth Enterprises owns the rights for movies and games based on The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit created by author J.R.R. Tolkien. I’m excited the next cycle of content is coming — with games likely coming sometime soon — as early as 2026. On top of that, later this year we should see an anime film based on the Tolkien works — The War of the Rohirrim, set in Rohan 183 years before the events of The Lord of the Rings.
Zaslav said they are “producing and will be involved every step of the way. He noted The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films — which have generated nearly $6 billion in box office revenue to date across the years — are some of the “most successful and revered franchises in history and presents a significant opportunity for the theatrical business,” Zaslav said.
I suspect that these news films will be accompanies by games that will end the long drought in the Tolkien franchise — which has had weaker and smaller games The Lord of the Rings: Gollum and The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria — since Middle-earth: Shadow of War came out in 2017. The action-adventure video game was developed by Monolith Productions and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.
He said that the Harry Potter. The Lord of the Rings, Superman and other parts of the DC Universe are largely underused and Warner Bros. Discovery is in the midst of fixing that.
“We have the characters and stories people love and yearn for everywhere in the world,” Zaslav said.
But he noted the studios’ Q1 financials were overshadowed by the top line in games following last year’s great performance of Harry Potter: Hogwarts Legacy last year and “the disappointing release of Suicide Squad in Q1.”
Thanks to the Dune 2 movie, Warner Bros. Pictures generated more than $1.8 billion on global box office so far this year.
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