After Warner Bros. first announced last summer that it was making a new feature film from the Lord of the Rings universe, it is now finally known when the film will premiere in theaters.
The film Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum will follow the same principle as its predecessors and will hit theaters in December, reports Index.
According to Variety, Andy Serkis' film will begin showing in theaters on December 17, 2027, just before the Christmas holidays - the same as the films from the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogy, each of which has grossed billions of dollars globally.
Andy Serkis as director and actor
Warner Bros. first announced The Hunt for Gollum last summer, and the film was originally scheduled to be released in 2026. However, the release date has been pushed back a year.
Serkis will direct the film and reprise the title role, which he has been playing using motion capture technology since 2002's The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. His previous directorial projects include Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle and Venom 2.
The original director of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Peter Jackson, is producing the new film along with Fran Walsh and Philip Boyens. Warner Bros. said in an announcement that the trio will be involved "in every step of the film's creation," Variety reports.
Philippa Boyens told Empire magazine that The Hunt for Gollum is "a pretty intense story" that takes place "after Bilbo's birthday party and before the Mines of Moria. It's a specific part of an incredible, yet untold story, told from the perspective of this extraordinary being," she explained at the time, N1 reports.
Actors from the original trilogy, such as Ian McKellen (Gandalf), Orlando Bloom (Legolas), and Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn), have expressed interest in returning for the new film, if it would make sense to fit into the story, although additional names have not yet been officially confirmed.
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