Tolkien and anime work well together, says Japanese director

NEW YORK - It has been a decade since the work of fantasy author J.R.R. Tolkien last appeared on the big screen.

- Alison de Souza

It certainly left an impression when it last did, with New Zealand director Peter Jackson's two live-action trilogies based on the late English writer's books, The Lord Of The Rings (2001 to 2003) and The Hobbit (2012 to 2014), earning more than US$5 billion at the box office.

And fans of Tolkien's fantastical universe, Middle-earth, are finally getting another movie with The Lord Of The Rings: The War Of The Rohirrim, an anime feature now showing in Singapore cinemas.

Set 183 years before the events of The Lord Of The Ring films, it tells the story of Helm Hammerhand (voiced by Brian Cox), a king who must defend his realm in the face of a longstanding territorial dispute.

This is the first Tolkien story to be told using anime - an animation genre that originated in Japan. And at a fan event with the cast and creators in New York earlier in 2024, executive producer Philippa Boyens explains why.

The story of Helm, which is found in the appendices of Tolkien's classic 1950s novel