When it comes to major franchises in Hollywood right now, interconnected universes are the name of the game. Obviously, much of the reasoning for this can be attributed to the immense success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which currently consists of more than 30 different films and Disney+ series that have been released over the course of the last 15 years. Beyond that, other major brands like Star Wars and DC have embraced the cinematic universe model as well, choosing to connect their various stories and set them all on one cohesive timeline. When looking at the array of popular brands and universes out there, one of the biggest that has yet to undergo this treatment is Middle-Earth, the world of The Lord of the Rings, created by J.R.R. Tolkien.
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There have already been a handful of different Tolkien adaptations that have proven there is a consistent hunger from fans for new material. Jackson’s trilogy is one of the biggest cinematic successes of the 21st century. Those films managed to nail the perfect combination of being accessible to general audiences, while still staying faithful to the source material and delivering an experience worthy of a dozen Oscar wins. All three films were undeniable box office successes, with the final film, The Return of the King, grossing over a billion dollars at the global box office. Those Lord of the Rings films were, and remain to be, a sensation that is beloved by innumerable people.
Following the success of Jackson’s films, work pretty immediately began on developing more stories set in Middle-Earth. For a while, director Guillermo del Toro was set to direct a two-part adaptation of The Hobbit. That particular iteration never came to fruition, and eventually, Jackson returned to direct a trilogy of movies based on the short book. Those films were not nearly as beloved as the previous Lord of the Rings films, but they were still immensely successful. The first entry made over a billion dollars at the box office, and the next two fell just $50 million short of that mark. Despite the general decline in quality that came with the Hobbit films, they once again proved that there is a clear and significant interest from audiences in the brand. People love Middle-Earth, and they will show up in droves to see it.
Could Middle-Earth Sustain a Cinematic Universe?
Warner Bros. Pictures
It’s clear to see that there is a strong desire from both die-hard fans and general audiences to see more Middle-Earth content on-screen. It’s a rich universe with complex characters and exciting stories to tell. What more could you want from a series like this? Looking at the modern entertainment landscape, many of the biggest brands out there right now are benefiting from the cinematic universe model. The Lord of the Rings series, and the world of Middle-Earth, looks like it could easily benefit from that approach as well. There are so many different stories that can be explored in Middle-Earth, spanning thousands of years and ranging from the lands of Arnor to Beleriand and Rhûn.
The decision to move the series in this direction wouldn’t be an altogether new one for the series either. Both the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit trilogies are set within the same continuity as one another, with multiple actors from the Lord of the Rings films reprising their roles in the prequel films. There are also numerous storylines and moments that Jackson included specifically to add further connective tissue between the two trilogies. However, one core trilogy and a spin-off prequel trilogy don’t quite make for a cinematic universe. That’s where The War of the Rohirrim comes in. Although that film is animated and is set hundreds of years prior to the two existing trilogies, it is confirmed to take place in the same continuity as Jackson’s films. This can most clearly be seen through the inclusion of the character Éowyn as the story’s narrator, with Miranda Otto reprising the role for the film.
If The Lord of the Rings were to embrace the cinematic universe approach, it would likely need to be in the same way that Star Wars has, rather than that of the MCU. While the MCU is undoubtedly the most successful cinematic universe out there, the approach that the franchise takes to its universe is extremely linear. With very little variation, the series unfolds almost exclusively by forwarding its timeline, whereas Star Wars jumps all over the place. The stories told in the Star Wars universe will go from a new film set thirty years after the original trilogy to a series 100 years before the prequels and essentially everything in between. Star Wars plays fast and loose with its timeline, with each new entry in the canon being set somewhere different from the last. It’s not unfolding in a single linear direction. Instead, the series is taking a scattershot approach that has worked out well so far. The world of Middle-Earth would need to adopt this approach, and with The War of the Rohirrim and The Rings of Power, it appears to already be doing so.
Less is More
New Line Cinema
With all of that said, just because The Lord of the Rings could easily be retrofitted into a cinematic universe does not mean that it should be. Obviously, any Lord of the Rings fan is going to hold a desire to see their favorite Tolkien stories told on-screen, whether through film or television. But, that doesn’t mean that they want to be endlessly inundated with new stories. Both Star Wars and the MCU are starting to experience problems with this. They are simply putting out too much material. It has become too difficult for casual viewers to keep up with everything those brands are producing, and as a result, it has become easy to skip a new entry entirely.
Both brands have lost some of the luster and appeal they used to have. A new Star Wars film used to feel like a special event, but now with Disney+ we are getting new live-action Star Wars material at least three times a year. The same goes for the MCU, with which this issue has grown even worse. In 2022 alone, they produced three films, three live-action series, and two television specials. It’s too much. And the additional issue with this is that the overall quality of the material being put out by both franchises has become anything but consistent. While shows like Andor and Moon Knight were great, they were balanced out with immensely subpar entries like The Book of Boba Fett and Thor: Love and Thunder.
If The Lord of the Rings were to become a cinematic universe, the people behind it would need to learn from the mistakes of these other series. While it might be exciting to get three new Middle-Earth shows or movies a year for the first year or two, it would get old fast. The brand would very easily get overexposed and diluted, and it would begin to not feel as special anymore. That’s not to say that the cinematic universe approach should be avoided entirely, as there is obviously some real benefit that can come from it. The issue is the extreme level of output, not the manner in which the stories are told. If The Lord of the Rings could strike the right balance between telling stories in the same universe while still showing some restraint with how frequently the stories are told, it could easily become even more successful than it already is, while also securing long-term interest from fans and general audiences.
