After a lackluster box office performance, Warner Bros. fast-tracked the digital release of The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim. The anime fantasy film has been available on digital platforms to rent or buy since late December, but soon it will be available to stream on Max or watch through HBO.
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim will make its global streaming debut on Friday, February 28th exclusively on Max. It will also debut on HBO linear on Saturday, March 1st at 8:00 p.m. ET.
Directed by award-winning filmmaker Kenji Kamiyama (Blade Runner: Black Lotus, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex) with a screenplay by Jeffrey Addiss & Will Matthews and Phoebe Gittins (The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies) & Arty Papageorgiou, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim takes us back to Middle-earth for an original story about House of Helm Hammerhand, the legendary King of Rohan. The story is set 183 years before the events chronicled in Peter Jackon's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.
A sudden attack by Wulf, a clever and ruthless Dunlending lord seeking vengeance for the death of his father, forces Helm and his people to make a daring last stand in the ancient stronghold of the Hornburg— a mighty fortress that will later come to be known as Helm’s Deep. Finding herself in an increasingly desperate situation, Héra, the daughter of Helm, must summon the will to lead the resistance against a deadly enemy intent on their total destruction.
Unfortunately, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim failed to impress critics. The film sits at just 48% on Rotten Tomatoes with a Critics Consensus that reads: "This animated deep cut from The Lord of the Rings mythos has plenty of spectacle, but its clichéd characters and uneven animation resemble middle of the road more than they do Middle Earth."
It does seem that the general audience enjoyed it a bit more as evidenced by the 82% Popcornmeter, but it didn't translate into box office success. The film grossed just $20 million worldwide on a $30 million budget. After premiering in theaters in early December, it was quickly released on digital platforms just a few weeks later.
Although it wasn't the box office hit that Warner Bros. had probably hoped, there's a chance it could find success through streaming on Max.