The holiday movie lineup for December doesn’t seem to be shaking things up at the box office right now. In fact, there is a complete lack of Christmas-themed movies for December aside from Red One which was released in November. However, an exclusive eight minute clip was released by video game and entertainment website IGN for The War of the Rohirrim which is following in the tradition of The Lord of the Rings movies being released in December. However, the new eight minute clip is going to hurt The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim rather than help its performance at the box office when it releases December 13th.
When it comes to The War of the Rohirrim, the anime film is already hampered by a number of red flags which includes subversion of Tolkien’s story about Helm Hammerhand, nepotism, heavy reliance on The Lord of the Rings member berries, and Hollywood’s prevailing theme of the girl boss. Most of which are all embodied in this clip.
The clip itself is taken from one of the most intriguing and epic moments for Helm Hammerhand. When, after the loss of his sons and major battles, he is taking refuge at the Hornburg, aka Helm’s Deep, as the Long Winter is occurring with the survivors starving from a lack of food. Driven by despair and anger, Helm goes out into the cold to slay the enemy with his bare hands after sounding his great horn that would strike fear in them.
However, this epic story is undermined by The War of the Rohirrim making Héra the main character of the film. And the clip gives Tolkien fans an exact idea of what to expect since the narrator and Héra are the focus and not Helm. In other words, the clip shows Helm Hammerhand is being subverted by these two elements which greatly dilutes the impact of his story for “her” story.
It even goes beyond this when Helm, in the clip, tells Héra that “No, Héra. They (Rohan) need you. You must lead them now.”
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The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is about Héra and not Helm Hammerhand.#WaroftheRohirrim #LOTR #Tolkien pic.twitter.com/vYlwof1rSq
— Sean D Knight (@SeanDKnight) December 3, 2024
The clip shows exactly what many Tolkien fans were afraid of. That Helm would be a secondary or side character in his own story. That Helm Hammerhand would be subverted in order to prop up Héra as another girl boss. Héra, who follows in the same footsteps of other Hollywood girl bosses by excelling at things and, as a bonus, can also commune with talking creatures, a Great Eagle, to make her a self-inserted Disney princess warrior.
But that is not the only problem with the clip. As stated before, another red flag for The War of the Rohirrim is the reliance of LOTR member berries. Prior to this clip, all of the trailers and featurettes used footage from Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings movies and started using the Jackson’s name to promote the film. However, another little tidbit shown in an earlier trailer were rings being collected for Mordor.
A scene I expected to be in the movie’s post-credits like we see with Disney Marvel films. However, it is actually in the eight minute clip and feels out of place. Or, at least, it will feel out of place for Tolkien fans considering that the events of Helm Hammerhand are set over two thousand years later after Isildur is killed and the One Ring lost. While Sauron would have been collecting rings around that time, why would he be focused on Rohan and their war? After all, the Nine rings are accounted for and Sauron would be focused on regaining the 7 Dwarven rings and locating the Three elven rings.
So it makes no sense for orcs to be rummaging through the bodies of dead humans in this war between the Rohirrim and Dunledings. Especially for the One Ring and how it operates. At that point, why would Sauron be ordering his minions to gather every ring they can find when the One Ring will find its way back to him or the ringbearer eventually make themselves known?
It should be pointed out that the eight minute clip will affect Tolkien fans far more than the general audience. Unfortunately for The War of the Rohirrim, the clip isn’t exactly compelling for the general audience either. An audience which hasn’t really shown any enthusiasm or interest in this film which could mean that they won’t even watch the clip in the first place.
An assumption given credence by the fact that the studio heads decided to release this eight minute clip in the first place. Something which, just a few days earlier, Sony Pictures did for Kraven the Hunter, another movie being released in December that hasn’t gained traction with moviegoers or Spider-Man fans.
The War of the Rohirrim is also an anime film which, despite the popularity of anime and manga, rarely does well at the box office in the United States. Then there is the competition in December that includes Moana 2, Mufasa: The Lion King, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Werewolves, and Nosferatu among others. This is a decent lineup of interesting movies that will be more appealing to younger audiences and older moviegoers. In fact, I would guess that Sonic the Hedgehog 3 will be the box office winner in December.
But aside from The Lord of the Rings brand, there is nothing compelling about The War of the Rohirrim to attract most viewers. Even with the The Lord of the Rings brand, which the anime film is heavily relying on, is not the lucrative draw it once was.
Suffice to say, all Warner Bros and New Line Cinema did with this eight minute clip was make The War of the Rohirrim more unappealing for Tolkien fans and a nothingburger for everyone else.
Which is a real shame.
Personally, I wanted an epic film about Helm Hammerhand and Fréaláf who saved Rohan and became the next king. Not a story about the unnamed daughter who will be a girl boss.
Do you think The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is not about HIS story, but HER story?
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