Lord of The Rings returns to movie theatres after 20 years but with an anime twist
Unlike the original Lord of the Rings trilogy or the less-celebrated Hobbit films that followed, the new installment in the franchise features no magical rings or omnipotent Dark Lords.
“This time, it’s about human drama and emotions—greed and power,” explained director Kenji Kamiyama during a recent press conference. Kamiyama, known for his work on animated adaptations of Star Wars and Blade Runner, emphasized the shift in focus. “The original trilogy had hobbits, elves, dwarves, and monsters,” he noted, but the upcoming story takes a different approach.
In 2021, Warner Bros. announced that the next Lord of the Rings film would take the form of an anime, a uniquely Japanese visual style and storytelling tradition that has gained immense popularity worldwide. Drawing inspiration from J.R.R. Tolkien’s extensive histories written as footnotes to his novels, filmmakers settled on a brief mention of a civil war in Rohan between a king and a rebellious noble.
“This wasn’t a case of having the story and then deciding on animation,” said producer Philippa Boyens, co-writer of both the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies. “It was the other way around. This particular story felt perfectly suited for the rich tradition of Japanese anime, which explores themes like honor, loyalty, hubris, and features strong female characters akin to Studio Ghibli’s Princess Mononoke.”
A New Chapter in Rohan
Titled The War of the Rohirrim, the film is set in the kingdom of Rohan, home to the horse-riding warriors prominently featured
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