News Analysis India

Tag: The Hobbit

  • ‘The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim’ anime feature set for April 2024 release

    By IANS

    LOS ANGELES: The anime feature ‘The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim’, which is set roughly two centuries before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’, has secured April 12, 2024 as its release date.As per Variety, Kenji Kamiyama, whose credits include TV series ‘Blade Runner: Black Lotus’ and ‘Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex’, has taken the onus of directing the feature along with ‘Blade Runner: Black Lotus’ producer Joseph Chou through his anime studio Sola Entertainment.Philippa Boyens, who was on the Academy award-winning screenwriting team for ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Hobbit’ trilogies, will join the team as the executive producer for the film which is yet to make announcements with regards to its voice casting.Boyens’ daughter, Phoebe Gittins, and writing partner Arty Papageorgiou are penning the screenplay based on written source material from Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews. In addition, the creative team includes Richard Taylor (the Academy Award winner for makeup and visual effects for ‘The Lord of the Rings’), Alan Lee (who won an Oscar for art direction for ‘LOTR’), along with Tolkien illustrator John Howe.

    ALSO READ | Amazon unveils first teaser of ‘Lord of the Rings’ prequel series at Super BowlTalking about the film’s creative army, Philippa Boyens said in a statement accessed by Variety, “I’m in awe of the creative talent who have come together to bring this epic, heart-pounding story to life, from the mastery of Kenji Kamiyama to a truly stellar cast.”Toby Emmerich, Warner Bros Pictures Group chairman added, “The ‘Lord of the Rings’ films took Tolkien’s masterwork to new cinematic heights and inspired a generation. 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.”

  • Gaming and film rights to ‘Lord of the Rings’, ‘The Hobbit’ up for sale

    By IANS

    LOS ANGELES: Saul Zaentz Co, which owns the rights to ‘Lord of the Rings’, ‘The Hobbit’ and other titles from author J.R.R. Tolkien, is set to sell its holdings and open a revenue stream with merchandising, gaming and live event rights, reports Variety.

    Zaentz Co has hired ACF Investment Bank to handle the sale process, which is unfolding this week as bankers make the rounds of the logical Hollywood buyers. As per Variety, the Tolkien properties are projected to fetch at least $2 billion, based on recent high valuations for top-tier IP and content producers. However, representatives for Zaentz Co and ACF have declined to comment for Variety.

    The move has been carefully sketched by Zaentz Co as Amazon is set to premiere the TV series rendition of ‘Lord of the Rings’ franchise, ‘Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ on September 2.

    Zaentz Co also exercises rights over limited matching rights in case the Tolkien estate decide to make movies or other content based on two compilations of Tolkien writings, ‘The Silmarillion’ and ‘The Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-Earth’, both of which were published after his demise in 1973.

    Saul Zaentz, a film and music entrepreneur, had acquired film adaptation and other rights to the various Tolkien titles in 1976. The deal between Zaentz and Tolkien estate accidentally missed out on the right to produce a TV series that was longer than eight episodes. Leveraging this loophole, Amazon directly struck a deal with the Tolkien estate for ‘The Rings of Power’ series in 2017 when the Tolkien estate shopped the TV series.