WARNER BROS. PICTURES AND NEW LINE CINEMA ARE SET TO REUNITE WITH THE OSCAR WINNING "THE LORD OF THE RINGS" AND "THE HOBBIT" TEAM PETER JACKSON, FRAN WALSH, AND PHILIPPA BOYENS FOR TWO NEW FEATURE FILMS FROM J. R. R. TOLKIEN’S MIDDLE-EARTH

(Burbank, CA) Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group’s Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy announced today the Oscar-winning team behind the nearly $6 billion blockbuster The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens are reuniting to produce two new films from Tolkien’s Middle-earth for Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema.

The first of the two films The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum (*WT) will be directed by and star Andy Serkis (Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle), with Walsh and Boyens set to write the screenplay, along with Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou (The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim). The film will be executive produced by Ken Kamins, with Serkis and The Imaginarium’s Jonathan Cavendish.

Said De Luca and Abdy, “For over two-decades, moviegoers have embraced The Lord of the Rings film trilogy because of the undeniable devotion Peter, Fran and Philippa have shown towards protecting the legacy of Tolkien’s works, and to ensure audiences could experience the incredible world he created in a way that honors his literary vision. We are honored they have agreed be our partners on these two new films. With Andy coming aboard to direct The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum (*WT), we continue an important commitment to excellence that is a true hallmark of how we all want to venture ahead and further contribute to The Lord of the Rings cinematic history.”

Said Jackson, Walsh and Boyens, “It is an honour and a privilege to travel back to Middle-earth with our good friend and collaborator, Andy Serkis, who has unfinished business with that Stinker - Gollum! As life long fans of Professor Tolkien’s vast mythology, we are proud to be working with Mike De Luca, Pam Abdy and the entire team at Warner Bros. on another epic adventure!”

Said Serkis, ““Yesssss, Precious. The time has come once more to venture into the unknown with my dear friends, the extraordinary and incomparable guardians of Middle-earth Peter, Fran and Philippa,” said Serkis.  "With Mike and Pam, and the Warner Bros. team on the quest as well, alongside WETA and our film making family in New Zealand, it’s just all too delicious…”.   

Serkis is an award-winning actor who has earned acclaim from both critics and audiences for his work in a range of memorable roles.  He gained legions of fans around the globe for his performance as “Gollum” in the Academy Award^®-winning The Lord of the Rings trilogy, directed by Peter Jackson.  Serkis won an Empire Award for his role, in addition to sharing in several Outstanding Ensemble Cast Awards, including a Screen Actors Guild Award^®.  He reunited with Jackson in the director’s epic retelling of King Kong, taking performance capture to another level as the titular character, and between 2011-2017 he took performance capture to new heights with his heartbreaking and critically acclaimed portrayal of “Caesar” in the Planet of the Apes trilogy. Serkis is currently in production as director/producer of an animated adaptation of George Orwell’s Animal Farm.  In February of 2020, he was honored by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) at the 73^rd EE British Academy Film Awards with one the organization’s highest honor, the Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema Award.  

He helmed Venom: Let There Be Carnage for Marvel and Sony Pictures (2021).  In 2022 Serkis starred in The Batman, portraying “Alfred Pennyworth” and in the fall of that year he received critical acclaim for his portrayal of “Kino Loy” in Andor, starring opposite Diego Luna 

Serkis served as 2^nd Unit Director on Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy and reprised the role of “Gollum” in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, He portrayed “Ulysses Klaue” in Black Panther (2018).  In 2017, he reprised his role from Star Wars: The Forces Awakens (2015) as “Supreme Leader Snoke” in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. 

Sir Peter Jackson made history with The Lord of the Rings trilogy, becoming the first person to direct three major feature films simultaneously. The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King were nominated for and collected a slew of awards from around the globe, with The Return of the King receiving his most impressive collection of awards. This included three Academy Awards® (Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director and Best Picture), two Golden Globes (Best Director and Best Motion Picture-Drama), three BAFTAs (Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film and Viewers), a Directors Guild Award, a Producers Guild Award and a New York Film Critics Circle Award. 

As a follow up to The Lord of the Rings trilogy, in 2005, Jackson directed, wrote, and produced King Kong, for Universal Pictures. The film grossed over $500 million and won three Oscars®. 

Jackson previously received widespread acclaim for his 1994 feature Heavenly Creatures, which received an Academy Award® nomination for Best Screenplay. Other film credits include The Frighteners, starring Michael J. Fox; the adult puppet feature Meet the Feebles; and Braindead, which won 16 international science fiction awards, including the Saturn. Jackson also co-directed the television documentary Forgotten Silver, which also hit the film festival circuit. 

Jackson directed the Academy Award®-nominated The Lovely Bones, an adaptation of the acclaimed best-selling novel by Alice Sebold and produced the worldwide sci-fi hit District 9. He was a producer on Steven Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tin Tin: The Secret of the Unicorn in 2011, with two more films set to come out in the future. He also directed, produced and co-wrote the three-film adaptation of Tolkien’s The Hobbit. 

In 2018 Jackson produced Mortal Engines, based on a post-apocalyptic world where cities ride on wheels and consume each other to survive. In 2018 he also directed and produced They Shall Not Grow Old, a documentary on World War I with never-before-seen footage. BAFTA nominated the film for Best Documentary, and it won Critics Choice Awards for Best Director and Most Innovative Documentary. 

Since that time Jackson has been working closely with Apple Corps on a series of projects focused upon the British band The Beatles, including The Beatles: Get Back, released in 2021. This seven- and-a-half-hour documentary was made entirely from unseen footage The Beatles had shot in 1969 and kept locked in a vault ever since. The project resulted in five Emmy Awards including Outstanding Director and Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series. 

Jackson works closely with partner Dame Fran Walsh, with whom he shares his writing and producing credits, as well as a family. 

Walsh is an Academy Award winning writer and producer of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies. She also wrote 2005’s King Kong, Mortal Engines, The Frighteners, Heavenly Creatures, The Lovely Bones and Meet the Feebles.

An Academy Award winning writer and producer, Boyens has co-written several of Peter Jackson's most acclaimed films. She co-wrote the Academy Award winning Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies. Her feature film work includes the screenplays for the Lovely Bones, Mortal Engines, and the 2005 remake of King Kong. She also co-produced District 9. She will next serve as the producer of the anime feature film The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim opening Christmas 2024 from New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Pictures.

Collectively, The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies have earned nearly $6B at the global box office. The Fellowship of the Rings ranked as the 2^nd highest grossing film worldwide, and The Two Towers and The Return of the King were the highest grossing films globally during their respective theatrical runs. 

The Fellowship of the Rings (2001), The Two Towers (2002), The Return of the King (2003), An Unexpected Journey (2012), The Desolation of Smaug (2013), and The Battle of the Five Armies (2014) havepushed the boundaries of filmmaking with groundbreaking visual and special effects, earning unprecedented recognition by the Academy Awards spanning two-decades. The Lord of the Rings films each received a Best Picture nomination (*when there were 5 nominees), winning a combined 17 Oscars, including 11 wins for The Return of the King across each of its nominated categories including Best Picture, and received 30 nominations across all three films.  An Unexpected Journey, The Desolation of Smaug, and The Battle of the Five Armies movies in The Hobbit trilogy received 7 Oscar nominations and won an Academy Award for Scientific and Technical achievement for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

In 2021, The Fellowship of the Ring was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the Nation Film Registry.  

The announcement of the new films follows the previously announced New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Animation’s anime feature film The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim opening this Christmas. Directed by Award winning filmmaker Kenji Kamiyama (Blade Runner: Black Lotus and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex series), the film is produced by Boyens, Joseph Chou (Blade Runner: Black Lotus), and Jason DeMarco.

The writing team of Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou penned The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim screenplay based on a script from Jeffrey Addiss & Will Matthews. The Lord of the Rings returning creative team also includes Oscar winners Alan Lee and Richard Taylor, along with esteemed Tolkien illustrator John Howe. 

*WT – working title

About Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group

Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group is comprised of Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Pictures Animation. Warner Bros. partners with the world’s most inspiring storytellers to create extraordinary entertainment on every screen for the global audience. Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group has been at the forefront of the motion picture industry since its inception and continues to be a leading creative force, producing the broadest slate of films for worldwide theatrical release.