It’s back to the drawing board for The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim. The once-anticipated anime movie based on the live-action Lord of the Rings movies by Warner Bros. Discovery will soon hit digital platforms after its underwhelming box office performance.

According to Deadline, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim will soon be available to own digitally on all leading digital platforms, such as Amazon Prime Video, AppleTV and Fandango at Home. This digital release comes just 14 days after the animated movie was released in theaters nationwide on Dec. 13, 2024. The War of the Rohirrim, the first new Lord of the Rings movie in 10 years, opened to largely poor reviews and a disappointing box office weekend premiere.

Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim Is Already Set for Home Digital Release

While The War of the Rohirrim reportedly had a low budget of $30 million without accounting for marketing, the anime movie failed to find success at the North American box office. In its first opening weekend, it ranked #5 and earned a disappointing $4.6 million from 2,602 cinemas. Despite the powerful Lord of the Rings brand recognition, The War of the Rohirrim didn’t come close to dethroning Kraven the Hunter for the top spot, despite the poor reviews and nonexistent marketing for what’s currently billed as the final Spider-Man live-action spinoff movie by Sony. In contrast to the 16% rotten score for Kraven the Hunter, The War of the Rohirrim was more favorable to critics, but not by much.

The anime movie directed by Kenji Kamiyama (Blood: The Last Vampire, Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 Sustainable War) received a rotten score of 47% from Rotten Tomatoes. Some of the harshest reviews for The War of the Rohirrim describe it as “a rushed money grab” and “a corporate wolf in sheep’s clothing.” However, CBR’s review was more encouraging. It praised the film’s animation and female lead but also acknowledged criticism of its overly long runtime. That said, there’s more to the “rushed money grab” criticism than being an easy dunk on the film, reportedly, The War of the Rohirrim was fast-tracked to production by WBD to retain the filmmaking rights to Lord of the Rings.

Although basing The War of the Rohirrim on an undeveloped idea from J. R. R. Tolkien’s text allows the film to be its own thing, it also gives WBD wiggle room to discard it until the company decides on a new direction for the live-action films, which will be the 2026 release of The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum. The anime movie doesn’t challenge any established lore set by the Peter Jackson films or add any of its own. However, it does give fans another chance to hear the late Christopher Lee as Saruman again through archived recordings.

Currently, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is still playing in theaters. The film’s description reads: “Set 183 years before the events chronicled in the original trilogy of films, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim tells the fate of the House of Helm Hammerhand, the legendary King of Rohan. A sudden attack by Wulf, a clever and ruthless Dunlending lord seeking vengeance for the death of his father, forces Helm and his people to make a daring last stand in the ancient stronghold of the Hornburg— a mighty fortress that will later come to be known as Helm’s Deep. Finding herself in an increasingly desperate situation, Héra, the daughter of Helm, must summon the will to lead the resistance against a deadly enemy intent on their total destruction.”