New Lord of the Rings film franchise announced by Warner Bros

No filmmakers attached to project but Peter Jackson, who directed original trilogy, being kept 'in the loop'

Sean Astin and Elijah Wood in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002). Photo: New Line Productions

There will soon be a return to Middle-earth as more adaptations of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit are on the way.

David Zaslav, chief executive of Warner Bros Discovery, announced on Thursday during an earnings call that a deal had been agreed upon to make several films based on the J R R Tolkien books.

The films will be developed by New Line Cinema, the Warner Bros production company that produced the original critically acclaimed trilogy directed by Peter Jackson between 2001 and 2003.

The franchise earned almost $3 billion at the global box office. And the final instalment, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, won 11 Oscars, including Best Picture, at the 2004 Academy Awards.

No filmmakers have been attached to the project as yet, but Jackson and his Lord of the Rings writing partners Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens said that they have been kept “in the loop every step of the way.”

“We look forward to speaking with them further to hear their vision for the franchise moving forward,” they said in a joint statement.

Last year, Amazon released the The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power series. The fantasy show is set years before the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and is based on Tolkien’s history of Middle-earth. Amazon announced it opened to 25 million viewers, making it Prime Video’s biggest premiere ever.

The show is thought to be one of the most expensive made, with Amazon signing a five-season production commitment estimated at $1 billion.

Scroll through the gallery below for more pictures from The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power