The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim Trailer Arrives

 

Animation and the fantasy genre seem like the most natural of bedfellows. With worlds able to be created where the only barrier is your imagination, it seems like fantasy animation would be common. But it is surprisingly rare- at least in the west.

So we were definitely intrigued when Warner Bros announced that they were producing a US/Japan co-production taking place in the world of J. R. R. Tolkein. We've been eager to find out more ever since. And now we have finally got our first look at the film with the very first trailer.

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, turns back the clock to tell a story set long before the events of the original Lord Of The Rings Trilogy and The Hobbit. Set 118 years before the events of the first three films, it tells the story of the House of Helm Hammerhand, the legendary King of Rohan. A sudden attack by Wulf, a clever and ruthless Dunlending lord seeking vengeance for the death of his father, forces Helm and his people to make a daring last stand at the ancient stronghold of the Hornburg- a mighty fortress that will later come to be known as Helm’s Deep. Finding herself in an increasingly desperate situation, Helm's daughter Héra must summon the will to lead the resistance against the invading hordes.

The film is directed by legendary anime director Kenji Kamayama (Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Blade Runner: Black Lotus) and is produced by Phillipa Boyens, a screenwriter from the original films, alongside Jason DeMarco and Joseph Chou. Executive producers include Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson, Sam Register, Carolyn Blackwood and Toby Emmerich. The screenplay is penned by Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews and Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou, based on a story by Addiss and Matthews and Boyens, based on characters created by J.R.R. Tolkien. 

The film is a New Line Cinema co-production is association with Warner Bros Animation and Sola Entertainment.

It features the voices on Brian Cox, Gaia Wise, Luke Pasqualino, Miranda Otto (reprising her role from the live-action films) Lorraine Ashbourne, Yazdan Qafouri, Benjamin Wainwright, Laurence Ubong Williams, Shaun Dooley, Michael Wildman, Jude Akuwudike, Bilal Hasna and Janine Duvitski.

The trailer starts with live-action footage from the original trilogy before moving into animated visuals. The movie definitely has a classically 2D 'anime' look, as opposed to the CGI visuals of some of Kamiyama's most recent productions such as Blade Runner: Black Lotus. It looks like it's set to have a suitably epic sweep to it- as you would hope with a Lord Of The Rings production.

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim will release in cinemas in the United States and Canada (including IMAX) from December 13. The film will open in other territories starting December 11.