Do you like The Lord of the Rings? Did you think it was totally chill and fine that J.R.R. Tolkien’s slender children’s volume, The Hobbit, was expanded into three entire feature-length films despite being only 300 pages long? Do you think The Adventures of Tom Bombadil would make for an excellent seven-part film series? Good, because you’re about to get a whole lot More-dor, according to The Hollywood Repor-dor. Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema have brokered a multiyear deal with Embracer Group to develop more Lord of the Rings movies. Warner Bros. film label New Line produced the original Lord of the Rings trilogy in the early 2000s, but last year, Embracer purchased the rights holder, Middle-earth Enterprises, giving the Swedish company the rights to most things LOTR — including movies, video games, merch, theme parks, and live shows. Amazon holds the television rights and currently produces The Rings of Power, although these rights are limited to certain stories and characters. “Warner Brothers and Embracer have kept us in the loop every step of the way,†Peter Jackson and his writing partners Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens told Deadline. “We look forward to speaking with them further to hear their vision for the franchise moving forward.â€
In a statement on a Warner Bros. Discovery investors’ call, film executives Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy said that “the vast, complex, and dazzling universe dreamed up by J.R.R. Tolkien remains largely unexplored on film. The opportunity to invite fans deeper into the cinematic world of Middle-earth is an honor, and we are excited to partner with Middle-earth Enterprises and Embracer on this adventure.†But this is David Zaslav’s domain, which probably means that they’ll shoot an entire new Lord of the Rings film, only for him to burn the tapes and collect the tax write-off.