Veteran anime filmmaker Kenji Kamiyama will direct the film from a screenplay by Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews.
New Line Cinema has partnered with Warner Bros. Animation to produce an original anime set in Tolkien’s fantasy world.
Titled The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, the stand-alone feature will be directed by Kenji Kamiyama, an anime veteran who last directed TV series Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.
It is set roughly 250 years before the events of “The Fellowship of the Ring” and follows the story of Helm Hammerhand.
Kenji Kamiyama will be joined by screenwriters Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews who will document the battle for Helm’s Deep, the fortress from the 2002 film, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.
The new anime movie will also explore the story of the King of Rohan, Helm Hammerhand.
In a statement, Warner Bros. Pictures Group COO Carolyn Blackwood and New Line president and CCO Richard Brener, said: “All of us at New Line feel a deep affinity for the extraordinary world J.R.R. Tolkien created, so the opportunity to dive back into Middle-earth with the team at Warner Bros. Animation is a dream come true. Fans know Helm’s Deep as the stage for one of the greatest battles ever put to film and, with many of the same creative visionaries involved and the brilliant Kenji Kamiyama at the helm, we couldn’t be more excited to deliver a fresh vision of its history that will invite global audiences to experience the rich, complex saga of Middle-earth in a thrilling new way.”
Sam Register, President of Warner Bros. Animation, added: “This will be yet another epic portrayal of JRR Tolkien’s world that has never been told before. We’re honoured to partner with much of the incredible talent behind both film trilogies, along with new creative luminaries to tell this story.”
Warner Bros. Pictures will distribute the project worldwide.
