The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim

[Smaug's voice]

I saw this news a while back and while I don't know a lot more about this, but those images look promising.
And I have always thought that animation is the most plausible way to adapt any and all of the First Age - or related smaller LotR stories. It's the ideal form imo in which myths and dreams are set free to play as animation is freed from gravity and the chains of the possible and filters the essence of the real physical world into a more experiential one.

[Alatar]

https://www.theonering.net/torwp/2023/0 ... -rohirrim/

The Annecy Film Festival “first look” at The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim has just concluded and reactions are starting to trickle out. While we wait for fuller reports from our own Crebain, here’s a selection of thoughts from the internet.

(It does seem quite positive and I am personally very excited by that.)

@RyanGrobins

Just finished the work in progress talk for the new #LotR film #WaroftheRohirrim, and I have to say that the marriage between Lord of the Rings and #anime never looked so good! The world and characters looked very authentic. I can’t wait to see this in theaters next year.

@GuillameGas

Art-books, chara-design and extracts enriched this exclusive presentation of the future “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” in the company of his team, including Kenji Kamiyama (director) and Philippa Boyens (screenwriter of the LOTR saga ).

@RafaelMotamayor

LordOfTheRings War of the Rohirrim is already shooting to the top of my most anticipated movies of 2024. The (very short and unfinished) footage shown at #Annecy2023 looks fantastic. This is 100% in line with the original trilogy while also very much an anime. Can’t wait.

@CloneWeb

I’m drying my wet eyes, I’m cleaning up all these pages of notes and I’m telling you, but #WarOfTheRohirrim is in very good hands.

This is beautiful 2D from new drawings by John Howe and Alan Lee. It’s full Rohan and the story, based on three paragraphs, is led by a young woman, Hera, the daughter of Helm Hammerhead [sic. i think that should be “Hammerhand”.]

@mpmorales

Two scenes were shown (one of them, the opening, not finished) and the producers commented on the importance of trying to unite the world of Lord of the Rings movies with anime ones. And it really was an interesting combination. It reminded me a bit of Castlevania.

Castlevania! That’s interesting. I’ve not watched it (Netflix jail something something), but I understand it’s well-regarded. Two scenes is also interesting, and accords more or less with my expectations of what they’d reveal.

@RyanGrobins

For #WaroftheRohirrim, a lot of Unreal and motion capture is being used to help figure out the shots. But no rotoscope is being used, it is only for reference. Then it is all getting the traditional anime treatment for the final look. It looks amazing! #LotR #AnnecyFestival

It is only for reference: right now, I’m interpreting that as meaning for fight scenes pending further clarification. I do think they are trying to not scare/alienate people who’ve seen Bakshi’s rotoscoped LOTR treatment with that clarification.

@MatteoSapin

I saw the first images of the (Japanese) anime “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” To be honest, not particularly convinced for the moment, I was hoping for something else BUT we really find the style of PJ’s films and the sets seem successful.

The first fence-sitter! And more for the adherence to PJ-style than anything else? Interesting.

@RyanGrobins

There was a really early layout of what looked Ike [sic] the opening sequence: starting from a map fly through to a sequence with Hera on a horse with some great eagles. Then a talk scene in I assume Edoras with Hera talking about the shield Maidens. #LofR #WaroftheRohirrim

A little bit more detailed information about the scenes that were shown.

@RyanGrobins

Some work in progress footage, and then at the end a montage of completed shots. It really looks like a lot of care is being put into it.

Aaah, wish I’d been there to see!

NOTE: I’ll keep updating this as more reactions come in (hopefully with more details), so be sure to check back!

[Alatar]

Very good interview with Philippa Boyens

[Eldy]

Full-size image in the spoiler tags:

Hidden text.

[Eldy]

Details from People, who it seems released these images first:

The first-look images show Cox's character Helm Hammerhand sitting alongside members of his family, including the newly introduced characters Héra (Gaia Wise), Haleth and Hama. Another up-close image of Héra shows her holding a sword.

A synopsis for the movie reads that Helm's daughter Héra "must summon the will to lead the resistance against a deadly enemy intent on their total destruction" as Rohan's situation grows more perilous. "I have to say, [Cox] being the father of a daughter also was really interesting given the dynamic at the heart of this film," Boyens adds of the Succession alum's performance. "That was really great."

Helm's daughter is unnamed in the Appendices and there's no mention of her playing an active role in events, but I'm happy to see her role beefed up. Hopefully she's not as racist has her dad, though.

Also, Helm in the Appendices has this weird habit of speaking about himself in the third person, and if they retain that in the film I'm gonna spend every one of his scenes thinking about how in anime such speech patterns usually belong to very small children and excessively cutesy schoolgirls.

[Snowdog]

I have to say I'm looking forward to this much more than I am the Hunt for Gollum remake.

[Frelga]

Oh, please don't let it be a star-crossed romance!

[ArathornJax]

We'll see how this goes. Mixed feelings on it. I'll wait for the reviews but I bet my 30 year old son will drag me to it. I don't attend movies much anymore so it has to be worth it to me.

[Eldy]

I've been unable to muster any pre-release enthusiasm for ROP S2, but I'm really looking forward to this. I'm sure I'll have many reservations about the finished film, but it looks like a fun ride. I think Kamiyama was a good choice for director, though I'm very glad this is traditional 2D animation (like most of his oeuvre) rather than the 3DCG he's experimented with in recent years. I've unexpectedly gotten back into anime this month after a gap of several years, so the timing of War of the Rohirrim works out well for me.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Interestingly, I had just the opposite reaction to the trailer. Any lingering interest that I had in this film pretty much is gone.

[Eldy]

For me, I think it largely comes down to expectations. The Second Age is very near and dear to my heart, so I hold ROP to a higher standard than something that's explicitly a prequel/spinoff of the PJ films (and, unlike The Hobbit, is not adapting a part of the legendarium I'm passionate about). If I was thinking of WotR principally as an adaptation of the books, I'd probably be warier — though even as it is, I'm not thrilled about the changes they seem to have made to the nature of the underlying dispute leading to the war.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Makes sense. Probably not the right place to ask this, but what is your current interest level for Season two of ROP based on what you have seen. Mine is reasonably high.

[Eldy]

I honestly haven't been following any of it; the WotR trailer is what got me to check in here and on TORn today for the first time in a while. I just watched the latest ROP trailer in order to answer your question, and aside from a slight interest in Charlie Vickers' Sauron I feel nothing. While I enjoyed the experience of having a new Middle-earth release in 2022, I just plain didn't like S1, and there's too much that I can't take seriously when I think back on it with two years' detachment from all the (mostly positive) emotions that came with being re-engaged with the Tolkien fan community, which played such a major role in my life for so long. That's less a comment on the show's "objective" quality – though I really don't think S1 was well-written – and more a testament to me being way too close to the source material, since the Second Age is my favourite part of the legendarium despite its sparse nature.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Again, fair enough! Maybe you'll end up being somewhat pleasantly surprised, though I have no doubt that at least some of it will be objectively (or at least subjectively to both you and me!) awful.

[Frelga]

Oh, please don't let it be a star-crossed romance!

Oh, FFS, it is!

Interestingly, I had just the opposite reaction to the trailer. Any lingering interest that I had in this film pretty much is gone.

Same.

[Alatar]

I'll watch it, but my anticipation has gone down a notch or two.

On the plus side, it stacks up visually with Rankin Bass

[Frelga]

On the plus side, it stacks up visually with Rankin Bass

Rankin Bass made, um, interesting choices but they at least were original, visually. This trailer looks like Mulan but make it kinda anime.

Nor does the trailer have anywhere the visual richness of Pj's movies. Or the RoP - whatever else one may think about them, they look gorgeous.

[Snowdog]

I thought it weighted heavily on PJ wanting to make himself appear relevant with that first thirty seconds.

Of course, anything developed in detail from the few pages of an appendix will be heavily fan-fiction, which is what the appeal of this project has been for me anyway. I don't think even PJ can screw that up. It will be a fun watch.

[Alatar]

Japanese Trailer with a lot of new footage

[Eldy]

Thanks for the link, Alatar! I saw some screencaps of Saruman on X last week but hadn't come across the Japanese trailer itself.