The Lord of the Rings anime called "stellar" and "absolutely stunning" as first look hits the internet

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"Reservations about the animation. Hot for the story"

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
(Image credit: IMDb)

Warner Bros. has unveiled the first look at The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, a new anime movie set in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth – and it's safe to say, it looks pretty awesome. 

The film recently screened 20 minutes of footage at Annecy International Animation Film Festival, too, and those in attendance appear to have been big fans of what they saw...

"Seen 20 minutes of #WarOfTheRohirrim. Reservations about the animation. Hot for the story. It comes out in December, the old-fashioned way," said one level-headed fan, as another more enthusiastic viewer tweeted: "By Ilúvatar, THE WAR OF THE ROHIRRIM looks stellar."

"Animation style of THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE WAR OF THE ROHIRRIM is very much like Japanese anime & CASTLEVANIA," wrote one more, while another gushed: "Had the pleasure of seeing a sneak peak of The Lords of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim. Honestly it's absolutely stunning and I can’t wait for it to be released in cinemas."

"Super exciting event and incredible audience reaction. Six months to go," someone else said on Instagram.

Set roughly 200 years before Peter Jackson's original movie trilogy, The War of the Rohirrim is set to explore the blood-soaked era of the mighty king of Rohan, Helm Hammerhand, and the origins of the fortress at Helm's Deep. You know, the one featured heavily in 2002's The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers lengthy battle scene? 

Directed by Ghost in the Shell's Kenji Kamiyama, the new flick features the voice talents of Brian Cox, Gaia Wise, Luke Pasqualino, Laurence Ubong Williams, Shaun Dooley, and Miranda Otto. At the aforementioned event, it was confirmed that Jackson and his wife Fran Walsh are credited as executive producers.

"We did not want to make an animated version of a Peter Jackson film," said fellow executive producer DeMarco (via Screendaily). "We wanted to make a Kenji Kamiyama animated feature film that lives within that world. That's a difficult task that requires a lot of delicate balancing between two types of filmmaking that haven't collided like this before."

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim releases in cinemas on December 13. In the meantime, check out the best anime you should be watching now and the latest from 2024's biggest new anime.

Amy West
Amy West
Entertainment Writer

I am an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering all things TV and film across our Total Film and SFX sections. Elsewhere, my words have been published by the likes of Digital Spy, SciFiNow, PinkNews, FANDOM, Radio Times, and Total Film magazine.