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While The Lord of the Rings franchise has proven to be incredibly profitable in the last two decades, and is set to be again with The Hunt for Gollum, the first attempt to adapt Tolkien’s once “unfilmable” epic fantasy was a complete disaster – and that means fans will be clamoring to get their hands on a precious deluxe re-release that was released recently.

Almost 50 years have passed since the animated Lord of the Rings movie bombed in cinemas and effectively prevented anyone else from attempting to take on the task of touching the material again for over 20 years, until a crazy Kiwi known for splatter-horror movies was given the keys to the cash vault and created one of the greatest feats in cinema history. While New Line Cinema’s Vegas-level gamble on Jackson paid off, in 1978, even trying to tell Tolkien’s story in animated form resulted in a truncated,...

Fifteen years after it was originally released on Blu-ray, the 1978 animated adaptation of The Lord of the Ringsis getting a reprint. Director Ralph Bakshi’s The Lord of the Rings is being re-released via a Remastered Deluxe Edition Blu-ray in 1080p resolution. The movie, based on the legendary J.R.R. Tolkien books, was directed by Bakshi, with the screenplay coming from Chris Conkling and Peter S. Beagle.

The Blu-ray is available for pre-order on Amazon for $22.49 and will be officially released on June 24. The reprint will also include an interview series with Bakshi in which he discusses the making of the film. Before this reprinting, the animated The Lord of the Rings was only available on Blu-ray via a region-free imported edition. The movie is also available on DVD in a remastered deluxe edition for only $5 on Amazon.

What Does the Blu-Ray Include?

The Remastered Deluxe Edition of the iconic animated...

Have you ever wondered what The Lord of the Rings would be like if the filmmakers were obviously stoned? You're about to find out, because the long-forgotten, and largely bonkers, animated Lord of the Rings movies have finally arrived on streaming. Peter Jackson's trilogy is undoubtedly the most beloved adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's world, with a stellar cast and phenomenal practical effects (not to mention the soundtrack), which brings fans back for multiple viewings every year. But, in the darkest corner of Mordor, lies an adaptation so bizarre and surreal, it should be cast into the fires of Mount Doom.

Decades before Peter Jackson brought Hobbits to life on the big screen, Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit both received animated movies in the 1970s. The Hobbit was released in 1977, with Lord of the Rings hitting theaters the following year. Unless you grew up watching these adaptations on TV in the 70s,...

Fantasy books, movies, and TV shows are often spun into franchises because of the expansive worlds that the writers and creators of the series develop. While some spinoffs and sequels don't live up to previous books or screen iterations, these franchises have never disappointed me. Returning to the fantastical worlds that lie within the pages or dazzling visuals of these franchises has provided comfort, escape, and thrilling adventures at every turn. Whether it's through additional books, spinoffs, or multiple sequels, these fantasy stories have the potential to go on for a long time.

While there are some movies and fantasy TV shows that go on for too long, there are other franchises that are ever-expanding. World-building is a considerable factor in whether or not a fantasy series has the longevity to continue for many years. Of course, every audience is biased, as my favorite fictional universes that have captured my...

Russell Crowe reveals why he turned down a role in The Lord of the Rings. Serving as adaptations of the books by J.R.R. Tolkien director Peter Jackson's hit fantasy trilogy was released from 2001 to 2003, chronicling Frodo's (Elijah Wood) epic quest to destroy the One Ring. The Lord of the Rings cast is a major reason why the movies work so well, but it's become common knowledge in the decades since the films' release that various other actors were almost cast for key roles, including Crowe as Aragorn, a role that eventually went to Viggo Mortensen.

In a recent segment for British GQ, Crowe is asked on social media whether he regrets turning down The Lord of the Rings.

Crowe makes clear that it's not a decision he regrets, and explains that he didn't take the job because he had a feeling he wasn't Jackson's top choice. Check out...

Fathom Events is re-releasing the Lord of the Rings trilogy in 4K extended editions throughout June. The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers have both landed in the domestic box office Top 10 for the weekend. The movies are performing well, though they have hardly made a dent in the box office totals of their original runs.

Two Lord of the Rings movies have landed in the domestic box office Top 10. The trilogy, which was adapted from the iconic fantasy novels of the same name by J.R.R. Tolkien, was released between 2001 and 2003 to overwhelming critical and commercial success. They were followed by a trilogy of live-action movies adapting Tokien's prequel The Hobbit between 2012 and 2014. In recent years, the Lord of the Rings franchise has picked up steam once more with the 2022 premiere of Prime Video's The Rings of Power and the upcoming 2024 animated movie The War of the Rohirrim.

Warner Bros. is working on a new Lord of the Rings movie that could arrive in 2026. The project is currently in the early script stage. More recent Lord of the Rings projects have struggled to recapture the magic of Peter Jackson's original trilogy.

Warner Bros. has a new Lord of the Rings movie in the works, and it already has a tentative release window. Adapting J. R. R. Tolkien's beloved fantasy novel series, Peter Jackson's first acclaimed Lord of the Rings trilogy was released from 2001 to 2003. The filmmaker would subsequently return to the world of Middle-earth with his more divisive Hobbit trilogy in the 2010s. Since then, new projects in the franchise have included The Rings of Power on Prime Video and an upcoming anime movie, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim.

Now, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav reveals during a recent earnings...

Lord of the Rings was initially adapted as an animated movie, but with Peter Jackson's films and Amazon's series, the franchise has seen significant expansion and attention. Pixar's creative and innovative animation style could bring a fresh and unique perspective to Middle Earth, as seen in AI art images shared on Instagram. The use of AI in entertainment has sparked debate among fans, with some wanting a Pixar adaptation of Tolkien's work and others calling for the shutdown of AI art-sharing accounts.

The Lord of the Rings was once seen as a novel that could never be adapted into a live-action movie. Therefore, it is not surprising that the first time J.R.R. Tolkien's world was envisioned on screen was in a 1982 animated movie, which while impressive in its ambition was only able to tell part of the story in its 131 minutes runtime.

the lord of the rings...

By the late 1970s, there were two major animated adaptations of The Lord of the Rings in development. Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass, known for their holiday season specials like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman, had directed an animated dramatization of The Hobbit for television, broadcast in 1977 and they were planning a sequel, also for television, based on The Lord of the Rings. But filmmaker and animator Ralph Bakshi beat them to it in 1978 when he directed an animated feature film, The Lord of the Rings, which he intended to be Part 1 of 2. The studio (United Artists) refused to put Part 1 on the title though, and never greenlit Part 2. Instead, Rankin and Bass released a made-for-television sequel to their Hobbit film under the title The Return of the King, which finished off J.R.R. Tolkien‘s epic story.

The Rankin/Bass Hobbit film is seriously underrated these days,...