Take a page from the hobbit lifestyle and relax a bit, because new Lord of the Rings movies won’t be arriving in the near future. Warner Bros. Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels touched on the franchise while speaking at Morgan Stanley’s investor conference Wednesday and noted they’re just now meeting with creatives.
Variety reports Wiedenfels avoided getting into specifics about Lord of the Rings, though he did express enthusiasm for the franchise’s future. “David [Zaslav, president and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery] made a promise, quote unquote, very early on to revitalize some of that iconic, tentpole IP and we’re starting to make progress,” Widenfels said. “It’s exciting to see how people are coming in and out and how the creative community is embracing this opportunity to work with us. That’s going to bear fruit, over time.”
Last month, Warner Bros. and New Line minted a deal to make new Lord of the Rings films, which won’t be remakes or retread old ground seen in Peter Jackson’s original trilogy. Though keep in mind there is a Lord of the Rings anime movie called The War of the Rohirrim aiming for a 2024 release. That project preceded this new deal.
A previous report claimed Warner Bros. wants Lord of the Rings to become a “Star Wars-like franchise,” but no scripts have been written yet. That seems to fit in with what Wiedenfels stated, as the studio meets with creatives to hash out the future of the series.
For more, check out everything we know about the new Lord of the Rings movies.
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