A new report suggests that The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim may have been doomed to fail based on a big development for the titular franchise. Regarding the vast Middle-earth timeline of Lord of the Rings, War of the Rohirrim is set around 200 years before the events of The Hobbit. This still places it long after the events of Lord of the Rings’ Second Age, in which Prime Video’s The Rings of Power is set.

As such, War of the Rohirrim‘s Easter eggs tie closer to the original trilogy than one might have thought. Despite consisting of an entirely different Lord of the Rings cast, the film oozes familiarity with Jackson’s three films. However, the reception of the film has not been consistent with that of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, much to the disappointment of Tolkien fans. That said, this may have been proven to be out of the filmmakers’ hands after a new report into the development of the entire Lord of the Rings franchise implies The War of the Rohirrim was set up to fail.

War Of The Rohirrim Was Meant To Help New Line Retain The Lord Of The Rings Rights

The Primary Focus Was Not On War Of The Rohirrim’s Story

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When The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim was initially announced, many were excited to see a new film in the franchise on the big screen for the first time since The Hobbit trilogy ended. Not only that but the film was being shown through the eyes of Kenji Kamiyama, a Japanese director known primarily for his work in anime. However, this excitement may not have been shared by Warner Bros., with a new report claiming War of the Rohirrim‘s creation stemmed entirely from the studio’s desire to retain the theatrical rights for Lord of the Rings.

Film rights are often a tricky situation to navigate for most studios, be it the deal between Sony and Marvel to bring Spider-Man to the MCU or the inability of the same franchise to feature a standalone Hulk movie. Where Lord of the Rings is concerned, the retention of the rights is fairly simple: Warner Bros. must avoid inactivity in the franchise. With the last Lord of the Rings project being 2014’s The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, War of the Rohirrim is seemingly more of a reset point for the franchise than anything else.

New Line Prioritized Lord Of The Rings’ Future Over Making War Of The Rohirrim Great

War Of The Rohirrim Was Fast-Tracked

With this in mind, War of the Rohirrim seems as though it was set up to fail. Warner Bros. was nearing the loss of The Lord of the Rings’ film rights, likely due to the 10-year gap between the culmination of The Hobbit and The War of the Rohirrim. As a result, the latter film was fast-tracked by Warner Bros. in an attempt to keep the film rights and ensure Lord of the Rings’ future. Evidently, this warped order of priority from Warner Bros. seemingly kept The War of the Rohirrim from being a truly great film.

Overall, audiences that have seen the 2024 film are responding well to it. It currently has an 84% approval rating from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, and Screen Rant‘s review of War of the Rohirrim was positive. Despite this, the reaction to the film as a whole was mixed. Critics are split right down the middle, with War of the Rohirrim‘s critical approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes sitting at 50% from 92 reviews. Paired with the film’s underperformance at the box office, it becomes clear that Warner Bros. did not put adequate care into The War of the Rohirrim.

The War of the Rohirrim only earned a worldwide total of just over $10 million in its opening weekend, falling short of its $30 million budget. This is due to an overall lack of marketing to wider audiences and the fast-tracking of the film to warrant it a critical failure. Rather than give it a proper marketing push, allow the filmmakers to take their time with the story, and treat the film as its own entity that deserves success, WB arguably set it up to fail given that the studio’s priority was retaining the franchise’s film rights.

Lord Of The Rings’ Future Is Brighter Than War Of The Rohirrim

Warner Bros.’ War Of The Rohirrim Plan Seemingly Worked

Although this reality is saddening concerning The War of the Rohirrim specifically, it cannot be stated that Warner Bros.’ plan to solidify the future of the Lord of the Rings franchise has not worked. After all, the future of the franchise has never looked brighter. Not only is Prime Video’s The Rings of Power season 3 in the works, but Warner Bros. is developing multiple new Lord of the Rings movies that will look to recapture the critical and commercial success of the original trilogy.

The most notable of these is The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum. This film is set to reunite original trilogy creators with its cast members to tell a story tied intrinsically to The Fellowship of the Ring. This movie is currently set to release in 2026, with another Lord of the Rings feature film being planned beyond that. Given how War of the Rohirrim turned out, these live-action installments are clearly the focus for Warner Bros. going forward, with the former simply being a low-risk-potentially-high-reward project to enable the future of the franchise.

War Of The Rohirrim Deserves A Sequel With Proper Studio Care

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As alluded to, the future of The Lord of the Rings does look bright. That said, it is still disheartening that a film like T he War of the Rohirrim can be treated as simply a placeholder. The main sadness felt from this comes when thinking about the creators of The War of the Rohirrim. This project involved a great deal of time, effort, and care on the filmmakers’ part – especially due to its nature as an animation – that was evidently not reflected by the studio.

How a sequel could turn out when the adequate amount of time, care, marketing, and planning by the studio is also included is certainly intriguing…

This proves above all else that War of the Rohirrim deserves a proper sequel with full care from the studio. The movie as it was released is entertaining, has strong action scenes, good Easter eggs to wider Lord of the Rings movies, and compelling teases for potential continuations. Imagining how this could have turned out – or, indeed, how a sequel could turn out – when the adequate amount of time, care, marketing, and planning by the studio is also included is certainly intriguing and only increases the desire for a sequel to The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim.