In June 2021, I reported here on the J-List Blog that a Lord of the Rings theatrical anime movie was being fast-tracked for release. Now we can report that Warner Animation has earmarked a firm release date for the anime movie from Sola Entertainment and director Kenji Kamiyama.
According to the initial exclusive report from entertainment website Variety, the movie entitled The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim will open in theaters on April 12th, 2024. The movie has been in production since the first announcement in 2021, which means Sola Entertainment has three years to make this movie look as flawless as possible.
Much like Amazon’s big-budget television series (which, by the way, is an entirely separate project from this movie), this movie will take place many years before the events of The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings trilogy. In this movie, the story will focus on the creation of the stronghold Helm’s Deep and the King of Rohan.
So far there have yet to be any announcements regarding who will fill the voice cast, but stay tuned to the J-List Blog for more updates as they are released.
As I stated in my previous article on this topic, I have mixed feelings about this entire movie project. I have absolutely zero problems with more Lord of the Rings content nor do I have any problem with the movie being animated. The very first time I experienced any part of J. R. R. Tolkien’s works was in animation form. Why does The War of the Rohirrim have to be an anime, though? If I want to see high fantasy anime, there are dozens of titles to choose from in anime history. Do we really need to add Lord of the Rings to that list? It seems almost silly.
Similar Reading: Anime Everywhere, Kamigawa, and Oriental Adventures
