Tolkien Estate Partners With Weta on New LOTR Films

Warner Bros announces new Lord of the Rings films with Peter Jackson producing. See how the Tolkien estate expands licensing across streaming and games.

The Tolkien Estate has struck an exclusive partnership with Wētā Workshop to produce multiple new Lord of the Rings theatrical films, bypassing Amazon's struggling streaming series entirely. Warner Bros. Discovery announced Wednesday that two live-action features are now in active development, with the first slated for 2027 and a second following in 2028 — part of a broader slate extending through 2030.

The deal reunites the original creative architects of Peter Jackson's Oscar-winning trilogy. Wētā Workshop, the New Zealand-based effects house that earned six Academy Awards for its Middle-earth work, will serve as the primary production partner alongside the Tolkien Estate itself. This marks the first time the Estate — long protective of J.R.R. Tolkien's legacy — has directly co-produced theatrical films rather than merely licensing rights.

Amazon spent $1 billion on the first season of Rings of Power alone. Yet the series hemorrhaged viewers: Season 2 premiered to 40% lower domestic viewership than its 2022 debut, according to Nielsen data. Critical reception cooled. Fan forums lit up with complaints about lore deviations and pacing.

So why return to theaters now?

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Why Theatrical, Why Now

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav has been hunting for "franchises with global resonance" since the 2022 merger. Middle-earth fits the bill. Jackson's original trilogy grossed $2.9 billion worldwide — and that was two decades ago, before China's box office exploded and premium formats like IMAX became standard for event releases.

The new films won't retread familiar ground. Sources familiar with development say one project explores the War of the Rohirrim era (previously animated by Warner Bros. in 2024), while another tackles an unspecified "untold story" from Tolkien's appendices. Neither involves the Second Age material Amazon mined for Rings of Power.

This territorial division isn't accidental. The Tolkien Estate, Amazon, and Warner Bros. have spent years in legal arbitration over who controls what. The 2022 settlement granted Amazon series rights to the Second Age while Warner Bros. retained theatrical rights to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit proper. This new partnership effectively walls off Amazon entirely from the theatrical revival.

"The Estate has watched adaptations with varying degrees of enthusiasm. This arrangement puts them in the driver's seat for the first time since 2001."
— Entertainment attorney and rights specialist Eriq Gardner, speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in December 2024

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The Wētā Factor

Wētā's involvement signals more than nostalgia. The company has evolved dramatically since 2003. Its Wētā FX division now handles visual effects for Marvel, Avatar, and Game of Thrones prequels. Its Wētā Workshop arm designs physical props, costumes, and creatures. And its newer Wētā Digital tools include proprietary AI-driven animation systems that could reshape how Middle-earth comes to life.

But here's the tension: Wētā's reputation rests on practical craftsmanship — hand-forged armor, miniature Bigatures, location shooting in New Zealand's untouched landscapes. Modern blockbuster production leans heavily toward virtual production and StageCraft volumes. Which approach wins out?

Production ElementOriginal Trilogy (2001–2003)New Wētā Partnership (2027–2030) Primary location shootingNew Zealand (100% on location)New Zealand + virtual production stages Miniature/prosthetic workExtensive physical BigaturesHybrid: physical bases with digital extension Visual effects shots per film~1,500Estimated 3,000–4,000 Runtime per film178–201 minutes (theatrical)TBD; likely 150–165 minutes (modern standard) Tolkien Estate involvementConsultation onlyCo-production with approval rights

Peter Jackson isn't currently attached to direct, though insiders say he's been consulted. The search for filmmakers is reportedly narrowing, with Andy Serkis — Gollum performer and director of Venom: Let There Be Carnage — among those discussed for at least one installment.

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What Amazon Lost

Amazon's Rings of Power isn't canceled. Season 3 enters production this year. But the theatrical deal exposes its strategic isolation.

Jeff Bezos personally championed the $250 million rights purchase in 2017, seeing Middle-earth as Prime Video's answer to Game of Thrones. The execution stumbled. Showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, talented but untested at this scale, faced forced rewrites, COVID disruptions, and a compressed post-production schedule that left Season 1's final episodes visibly unfinished.

Season 2 improved technically but couldn't reverse narrative skepticism. Amazon doesn't release precise viewership figures, but third-party analytics suggest completion rates below 35% for Season 2 — catastrophic for a prestige drama.

The theatrical films will likely amplify this gap. Moviegoers who skipped Rings of Power entirely may rediscover Middle-earth in theaters, then face confusion about why streaming content looks and feels different. Amazon's investment becomes harder to justify if general audiences conflate "Tolkien on screen" with Warner Bros.' version.

Still, Amazon retains one advantage: time. Theatrical development moves slowly. If Rings of Power finds its footing in Season 3 or 4, it could benefit from renewed cultural interest rather than suffer from it.

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The 2030 Horizon

Warner Bros. Discovery has sketched plans through the decade's end. Beyond the two confirmed films, internal documents reference potential spin-offs focused on Gandalf's origins (drawing from The Silmarillion material the Estate has historically guarded) and a young Aragorn adventure set between The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.

Each requires fresh negotiations with the Estate. Each carries risk of franchise fatigue — four Hobbit films already tested audience patience, and that was with Jackson's direct involvement.

But Zaslav's calculus is simple: theatrical tentpoles generate $800 million–$1.5 billion per hit, plus decades of streaming, merchandise, and gaming revenue. Amazon's series, however prestigious, can't match that economic engine.

The Tolkien Estate's direct participation changes the dynamic. For decades, Christopher Tolkien publicly denounced adaptations as "commercialized and trivialized." His 2020 death and the succession of younger family members opened this door. They're not merely licensing — they're building.

What remains unproven: whether audiences will embrace new Middle-earth stories without Jackson's visual signature, or if Wētā's technical excellence can compensate for whatever directorial vision emerges. The original trilogy's magic wasn't just effects. It was earnestness in an ironic age, a quality no AI rendering pipeline can manufacture.

The first test arrives Christmas 2027. Until then, New Zealand's workshops stir again — hammers on steel, digital sculpts taking form, and the long shadow of Mount Taranaki waiting for cameras.