New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Animation have announced that anime movie The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim will arrive in theaters with a release date of April 12, 2024, per Variety. The anime movie takes place around 200 years prior to the books and movies, and it will “explore the exploits of Helm Hammerhand, the King of Rohan, and the creation of Helm’s Deep,” which was featured in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. As can be seen in the first image for the film, the visual style is consciously taking nods from the movies.
Kenji Kamiyama is directing The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim with Joseph Chou of anime studio Sola Entertainment. Notably, Kamiyama previously directed Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Blade Runner: Black Lotus, so he clearly has a pedigree. Meanwhile, Philippa Boyens, a Lord of the Rings scriptwriter, is an executive producer, while her daughter Phoebe Gittins and writing partner Arty Papageorgiou are writing the screenplay based on a script by Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews.
“The Lord of the Rings films took Tolkien’s masterwork to new cinematic heights and inspired a generation,” said Warner Bros. Pictures Group chairman Toby Emmerich. “It’s a gift to be able to revisit Middle-earth with many of the same creative visionaries and the talented Kenji Kamiyama at the helm. This will be an epic portrayal unlike anything audiences have ever seen.”
Meanwhile, the first trailer for Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power dropped yesterday to vocal reactions, positive and negative.
