‘The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim’ is the Weakest Movie

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As a huge fan of The Lord of the Rings, I’m excited about the new movie coming in 2027, but honestly, New Line and Warner Bros. would be smart to just pretend the last one didn’t happen. And I think a lot of us fans feel the same way. The original trilogy was incredible – a true cinematic masterpiece and a massive success. But that animated prequel? It just didn’t fit, and it really cheapened the amazing world Tolkien created. Let’s hope this new film gets back to the magic of the originals!

Honestly, I was pretty puzzled by The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim. It didn’t get great reviews and actually lost money in theaters, which made me wonder who they were even trying to reach with it. As a huge Tolkien fan, I was hoping for something that would expand on the world we already love, something that would feel as epic as Peter Jackson’s films. But this animated prequel, set long before those events, just didn’t add much new. And from what I understand, it was kind of thrown together quickly because of some rights issues, and you can definitely feel that in the final product – it just lacked that spark.

‘The War of the Rohirrim’ Misses the Mark Time and Again

Directed by Kenji Kamiyama, known for Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim came out in theaters on December 3, 2024. This animated prequel takes place 183 years before the events of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films, telling the story of Helm Hammerhand (Brian Cox), the king of Rohan. When the Dunlendings ask for Helm’s daughter, Hera (Gaia Wise), in marriage, he refuses, leading to a full-scale war. The conflict begins after Helm kills the father of Wulf (Luke Pasqualino), a Dunlending leader who seeks revenge against Helm and his people.

While The War of the Rohirrim has a few exciting action scenes, it doesn’t reach the level of quality established by The Lord of the Rings. It lacks the rich world-building, well-developed characters, grand scope, and masterful direction of the original films. It doesn’t feel naturally connected to Peter Jackson’s trilogy, and ultimately comes across as a hurried and confusing story. It’s not surprising the film received mostly negative reviews.

The movie Rohirrim hasn’t received great reviews, scoring 49% on Rotten Tomatoes and a Metascore of 54. General audiences weren’t much more enthusiastic. It has a 6.3 rating on IMDb and a user score of 5.2 on Metacritic. Rotten Tomatoes summarizes the overall opinion as:

While visually impressive, this lesser-known animated film based on The Lord of the Rings feels surprisingly ordinary. Its predictable characters and inconsistent animation quality don’t quite capture the magic of the original stories.

The disappointing performance of Rohirrim extends beyond simply missing the mark with audiences. Considering the Rohirrim franchise generated almost $6 billion in revenue over two decades, the film’s box office failure is particularly striking. It earned only $20.7 million (including $9 million in the US) despite costing $30 million to make, resulting in a loss for New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. It’s possible the studio and production team moved too quickly with the film due to a licensing problem.

‘The War of the Rohirrim’ Was Rushed Into Production Over Legal Rights

A common complaint about Rohirrim is that it feels hastily made and quickly forgotten. This likely happened because New Line rushed production in 2021 to prevent losing the film rights to Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Instead of letting the rights expire and allowing Peter Jackson’s films to stand on their own, New Line and Warner Bros. tried to maximize profits from the franchise, but the result was disappointing.

As a huge Tolkien fan, I have to say that Amazon’s The Rings of Power really set a high bar. It finished its second, fantastic season in October 2024, actually before Rohirrim even came out. What I loved about the series is that it’s a really thorough and captivating prequel, taking place over a thousand years before the movies we all know and love. It dives so much deeper into Tolkien’s world than Rohirrim does, especially when it comes to things like Galadriel’s history – Morfydd Clark is brilliant – and the story of Sauron’s rise and the tragic fall of Numenor. It truly expands on the lore in a way that’s incredibly compelling.

It’s ironic that Peter Jackson helped create the animated prequel, Rohirrim, but isn’t involved with The Rings of Power. Because he quickly released that anime before losing the rights to the films, he had to watch a superior TV series succeed without him, potentially damaging his reputation. Luckily, Jackson has a chance to regain momentum with The Hunt for Gollum, which he’s producing alongside his friend and collaborator, Andy Serkis, who is directing.

Can ‘The Lord of the Rings’ Rebound with ‘The Hunt For Gollum’?

A strong way to reassure fans worried about the future of the Lord of the Rings and honor its history is for The Hunt for Gollum to revitalize the series. Currently planned for release in theaters in December 2027, the film is being produced by Peter Jackson, with a script from his frequent collaborators Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, and direction from Andy Serkis, who famously played Gollum. Both Elijah Wood (as Frodo Baggins) and Sir Ian McKellen (as Gandalf) are confirmed to return, and Andy Serkis will reprise his performance as Gollum. There’s also talk that Kate Winslet will be joining the cast in this new live-action adventure.

Despite winning 17 Academy Awards and earning almost $6 billion over the last quarter-century, the future of the franchise hinges on how well The Hunt for Gollum performs. A successful release could quickly repair the damage caused by recent criticisms of Rohirrim. It could also prove that Peter Jackson remains the true visionary behind the Lord of the Rings universe, even with Amazon now owning the television rights and J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay leading the new shows. Before The Rings of Power, Payne and McKay had no prior involvement with Lord of the Rings. Now is the time for Jackson to reassert his creative control and restore the franchise to its former glory.

Even if The Hunt for Gollum helps to revive the good reputation Peter Jackson earned with The Lord of the Rings over the last 25 years, The War of the Rohirrim will probably still be remembered as a failed project that wasn’t made for the right reasons.

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2026-04-07 02:04