New Line Cinema’s original anime feature “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” returns audiences to the epic world brought to life in “The Lord of the Rings” Trilogy, based on the revered books by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Under the direction of award-winning filmmaker Kenji Kamiyama (the “Blade Runner: Black Lotus” and “Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex” TV series), the talented voice cast is led by Brian Cox (“Succession”) as Helm Hammerhand, the mighty King of Rohan; Gaia Wise (“A Walk in the Woods”) as his daughter Héra; and Luke Pasqualino (“Snowpiercer”) as Wulf.  Miranda Otto, who delivered an unforgettable, award-winning performance in “The Lord of the Rings” Trilogy, reprises her role as Éowyn, Shieldmaiden of Rohan, who serves as the tale’s narrator.  The voice ensemble also includes Lorraine Ashbourne (Netflix’s “Bridgerton”), Yazdan Qafouri (“I Came By”), Benjamin Wainwright (“World on Fire”), Laurence Ubong Williams (“Gateway”), Shaun Dooley (“The Witcher”), Michael Wildman (“Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw”), Jude Akuwudike (“Beasts of No Nation”), Bilal Hasna (“Sparks”) and Janine Duvitski (“Benidorm”).

Set 183 years before the events chronicled in the original trilogy of films, “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” tells the fate 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 in 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, Héra, the daughter of Helm, must summon the will to lead the resistance against a deadly enemy intent on their total destruction.

With Kamiyama at the helm, the original feature is being produced by Oscar winner Philippa Boyens, from the screenwriting team behind “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” Trilogies, alongside Jason DeMarco and Joseph Chou, who, in addition to their many separate animation projects, collaborated on the “Blade Runner: Black Lotus” series. The executive producers are Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson, Sam Register, Carolyn Blackwood and Toby Emmerich.

The screenplay is by Jeffrey Addiss & Will Matthews and Phoebe Gittins & Arty Papageorgiou, story by Addiss & Matthews and Boyens, based on characters created by J.R.R. Tolkien. The team of creative collaborators returning from “The Lord of the Rings” Trilogy also includes Oscar winners Alan Lee and Richard Taylor, along with esteemed Tolkien illustrator John Howe.

A New Line Cinema Presentation, a Warner Bros. Animation / Sola Entertainment Production, “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim”, will be distributed theatrically worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, released in cinemas nationwide on December 12, 2024.

The post FIRST IMAGES FROM LOTR: THE WAR OF THE ROHIRRIM appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Amazon Studios announced today that its The Lord of the Rings original series will film Season Two in the United Kingdom (U.K.).

The shift from New Zealand to the U.K. aligns with the studio’s strategy of expanding its production footprint and investing in studio space across the U.K., with many of Amazon Studios’ tentpole series and films already calling the U.K. home.

The highly anticipated The Lord of the Rings series recently wrapped principal photography on Season One in New Zealand and is scheduled to premiere on Prime Video in more than 240 countries around the world on Friday, September 2, 2022.

“We want to thank the people and the government of New Zealand for their hospitality and dedication and for providing The Lord of the Rings series with an incredible place to begin this epic journey,” said Vernon Sanders, VP and Co-Head of TV, Amazon Studios. “We are grateful to the New Zealand Film Commission, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, Tourism New Zealand, Auckland Unlimited, and others for their tremendous collaboration that supported the New Zealand film sector and the local economy during the production of Season One.”

Season One post production will continue in New Zealand through June 2022, and pre-production on Season Two will begin concurrently in the U.K. after the first of the year.

“As we look to relocate the production to the U.K., we do not intend to actively pursue the Season One MoU five percent financial uplift with the New Zealand government or preserve the terms around that agreement, however we respectfully defer to our partners and will remain in close consultation with them around next steps,” said Albert Cheng, COO & Co-Head of TV, Amazon Studios.

The new epic drama brings to screens for the very first time J.R.R. Tolkien’s fabled Second Age of Middle-earth’s history.

Beginning in a time of relative peace, thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings books, the series follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth.

The series is led by showrunners and executive producers J.D. Payne & Patrick McKay.

They are joined by executive producers Lindsey Weber, Callum Greene, J.A. Bayona, Belén Atienza, Justin Doble, Jason Cahill, Gennifer Hutchison, Bruce Richmond, and Sharon Tal Yguado. Wayne Che Yip is co-executive producer and directs along with J.A. Bayona and Charlotte Brändström. Christopher Newman is a producer and Ron Ames is a co-producer.

A world-renowned literary work, and winner of the International Fantasy Award and Prometheus Hall of Fame Award, The Lord of the Rings was named Amazon customers’ favorite book of the millennium in 1999 and Britain’s best-loved novel of all time in BBC’s The Big Read in 2003.

The Lord of the Rings books has been translated into around 40 languages and has sold more than 150 million copies.

The post The LOTR Original Series Sets Season Two in U.K. appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

“I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the Flame of Anor. The dark fire will not avail you, Flame of Udun! Go back to the shadow. You shall not pass!” 

When I saw Lord Of The Rings in theatres for the first time, the Mines of Moria sequence was one I was looking forward to the most… all because of the vivid image I had in my mind of The Balrog from reading the books. Weta did not disappoint! 

This hand-painted bust, sculpted by artists who worked on the Lord of the Rings films and measures over 19 inches tall and is limited to only 666 pieces worldwide. What makes this bust special is that it comes with unique LED lighting to re-create the flames in The Balrog.

For the full effect you really need to see one of these up close – but for now check out the video above our post to watch the Balrog come alive! Get yours HERE.

The post Balrog Bust Preview appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

2014’s Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor borrowed heavily from Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed series and Warner’s own Batman Arkham games. The result was a great open world game with exciting combat set within Tolkien’s fantasy world.

Monolith and WB Games’ sequel, Middle-Earth: Shadow of War, builds upon what had gone before to create a game that is, for the most part, so much better that its predecessor.

One again, players take on the role of Talion, whose fate is entwined with spirit of the elf lord, Celebrimbor. The story continues directly from the first game in that it is set between the events in The Hobbit and those of The Lord of the Rings. Much of the game’s stylings are taken from Peter Jackson’s films, rather than being an original interpretation of Middle-Earth solely based on the novels.

Sméagol, looking and acting exactly as he does in the films, joins the much more expanded cast of supporting characters. Talion gets to fight alongside his Gondorian people against Sauron’s forces. There’s an interesting recon, giving the spider, Shelob and seductive female human form, that’s caused a bit of controversy amongst the devoted. Personally, I’m not precious about the game following the established law.

Despite its adventure and RPG elements, Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor is first and foremost a fighting game. Talion is a dab-hand with the sword, knife and bow, allowing for some frantic savagery, shadowy stealth and precision sniping.

The Arkham-inspired combat is just as exciting as the previous game, if not even more fun. But it seemed easier. Pretty early on I found myself to be able to easily take on a hoard of Orcs with two or three captains, no trouble. This was a far cry from the brown trousers that Shadow of Mordor use to give me when I found myself flanked on all side by a group of blood-thirsty orc captains.

The much-lauded Nemesis system, introduced in the last game provides consequence to player success or failure. The orc leaders will remember you. And lowly grunts will get promoted and upgraded into a formidable enemy should they defeat you. The characterisation of the orc commanders really makes the game. It’s very satisfying to beat them down after they’ve thrown some vicious shade at you.

All your combat abilities and more are, of course, upgradable. At first glance the skill tree seems a bit sparse, especially having just come from Total War Warhammer 2. But it is very well balanced, unlocking abilities at a decent pace to both keep things interesting and not overwhelming. After paying you dues the game soon has you performing acrobatic feat of archery and even taming (and riding) drakes (i.e. small dragons).

You earn weapon and armour upgrades by besting orc leaders. Mixing and matching the best combinations. Many weapons have challenges that, when attained, unlock slots for gems that buff your equipment.

Shadow of War is a massive game, and one that I found myself easily side-tracked. You’ve got collectables, loot and side missions all vying for your time. Then there’s the constant distraction of trash-talking orc commanders in need of a good hiding. Unfortunately, when reviewing games, you seldom have the time to go after all the collectables. But killing orc leaders is just so much fun.

Despite being, overall, a much better and more refined game than last time, there are still some niggles.

The visuals are nice, but I was expecting something along the lines of The Witcher 3. Instead I’d say that they aren’t any better than Shadow of Mordor. The lighting seems flatter this time out, and with less atmosphere than the last game.

I wouldn’t say that the game is a very stable PC game at this moment in time. My system runs the first game with no trouble, across three monitors. Shadow of War repeatedly crashed my graphics driver, full screen, and the only way to get it running was to drop the resolution from 5880 x 1080 to 1920 x 1080 and play windowed. Even then I still got the odd crash to desktop with a complaint about the GPU. I think NVIDIA and Monolith need to work this out together.

The inclusion of loot crates in the game has generated much controversy. Whilst you can purchase silver crates using currency earnt in-game, gold crates can only be purchased using real-world money. For the most part, this isn’t a problem. You still get the game you paid for and you can still play the game as intended. More well-heeled players with money to burn or, more likely, time more players wanting to enjoy faster progression through the game, at a premium.

As with the first game, Middle-Earth: Shadow of War is a fun experience. Much in the same way as Rocksteady did with their Arkham Batman games, Monolith have increased the scope of the game giving use a bigger and more interesting playground to act out Middle-Earth fantasies.

The post Middle-Earth: Shadow of War (PS4) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.