It’s been 12 years since audiences were brought to Middle Earth through the big screens with The Lord of the Rings trilogy. From the peaceful village of Hobbiton to the dangers of Mordor, fans had their breaths taken away throughout this trilogy. And it’s no surprise why people enjoy this franchise. The amount of detail that J.R.R. Tolkien provided in his stories made it possible for filmmakers to recreate the world he’s written. But do we really need to go back to Middle Earth in this new decade? Can’t the adventure come to an end?
Warner Bros recently announced that it plans to bring back The Lord of the Rings films after the success of the TV series, The Rings of Power. The series cost Amazon Studios $1 billion, making it the most expensive television series in history. It was also confirmed that Amazon began shooting season two back in Oct 2022 and that it will have a total of five seasons. That’s a lot of watch hours to explore all of Middle Earth, including the movies.
A beloved franchise, but poor ratings
While the show was praised by critics, it seems like not everyone is happy with post-main trilogy content. The Rings of Power currently has a low audience rating of 38 percent, with people complaining that “the franchise is ruined” and that people stopped watching by episode two or three. People tried to give this show a chance and watched it with an open mind, but it just wasn’t up to their standards.
The same can be said for The Hobbit trilogy, the prequel films that took place before the main trilogy. While The Hobbit story was still good and received a decent score on Rotten Tomatoes, it didn’t quite reach the same love that the original three films received, sitting at a 70-80 average score at best.
But what’s funny about this is that this isn’t new. This has happened before with other huge franchises and for some reason, despite the loud outcry and disappointment, they’re still successful.
The gamble of reviving a franchise
Whenever production companies announce that it’s bringing back a franchise that ended years ago, there would be a split among fans since there will be some who will be excited about this. Meanwhile, others don’t think it’s necessary and would typically ask “who asked for this.”
But it is also a gamble that production companies face since half of the time, they’ve become successful hits. And sometimes, they end up becoming flops. For example, the revival of the Harry Potter franchise. JK Rowling and Warner Bros decided to bring back the Wizarding World with the Fantastic Beast series, which told the story of Newt Scamander and how this “magizoologist” got himself tied to stopping Gelert Grindlewald. While the films didn’t perform well at the box office to the point where plans for the fourth and fifth films were scrapped, they still managed to perform well on Rotten Tomatoes, except for Crimes of Grindelwald which currently has a very low Rotten Tomatoes score.
The same can be said for Star Wars. Fans were shocked when Disney announced that this space story is returning and would take place 40 years later since Episode VI. And while there is a debate about the sequel trilogy’s quality, you have to agree that the new Disney Plus shows, such as The Mandalorian and Andor, are really good and beloved by fans.
So in the end, production companies will throw away millions of dollars to ensure these projects’ success. But is it worth it for The Lord of The Rings? Amazon took that gamble for The Rings of Power to justify the existence of Prime Video. Should Warner Bros follow suit?
We don’t need a movie… yet
In my objective opinion, I don’t think Warner Bros. should invest money in The Lord of the Rings just yet. For starters, the company needs to prioritize the revival of the DCU after hiring James Gunn and Peter Safran to take the reigns for this Marvel competitor. Also, based on how people viewed season one of The Rings of Power, it’s probably best to wait how season two stands by audiences and fans before investing more money in another potential trilogy.
But then again, bringing back The Lord of the Rings or any popular franchise is a risk production companies have to take. Not because of fans, but because it needs to prove that it can’t rely on the name alone to be successful. It also needs to present a good story and bring back that feeling that fans had all those years ago. If Warner Bros thing that it’s able to do that, then gamble away.