If you were looking forward to seeing The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim in the top half of 2024, we've got bad news for you.
As a result of the ongoing SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes in Hollywood, Warner Bros. has adjusted the release dates for several films and the studio's upcoming Lord of the Rings anime film has been caught up in the maelstrom.
The release date shuffling started with Dune: Part Two, which moved from November 2023 to March 2024, and as a result, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire moved from March 2024 to April 2024. In turn, Godzilla's new release date led to The War of the Rohirrim moving from April 12, 2024, to December 13, 2024.
The disheartening notion about the entire proceedings is that if the strike isn't resolved it's likely that Warner Bros. will push back release dates again and The War of the Rohirrim could get bumped all the way to 2025.
The anime film is said to be canon with the live-action films and will follow Helm Hammerhand, the ancient King of Rohan and the very first battle of Helm's Deep.
To date, negotiations between the WGA and AMPTP have been uneventful, with the two sides remaining very far apart on reaching an agreement. And the AMPTP has not even started negotiations with SAG-AFTRA.
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim will be directed by Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex's Kenji Kamiyama at Studio Sola Entertainment (Tower of God, The God of Highschool, Shinichirō Watanabe's Lazarus).
Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews (The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance) are penning the script.
Stay tuned as we continue coverage on the Hollywood strike and keep your fingers crossed that more delays don't ensue.