The War of the Rohirrim has been released in theaters domestically and globally. Unfortunately for the anime film, it has had a horrible opening weekend grossing $4.6 million domestically and $5.7 million globally for a total of $10.3 million at the box office. Given its poor performance, can The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim anime even surpass Bakshi’s The Lord of the Rings animated film’s lifetime global box office gross?
Prior to Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy, there were three animated films released: The Hobbit (1977), The Lord of the Rings (1978), and The Return of the King (1980). However, only one of them was released in theaters and that was The Lord of the Rings which was directed by Ralph Bakshi. While the Bakshi film only grossed $626,649 during its opening weekend domestically, it went on to gross $30.4 million dollars. An impressive figure at the time, especially when you consider that this movie was poorly received by the majority of viewers and supposedly had a budget of $4 million.
One of the biggest gripes about the movie was the ending with the battle of Helm’s Deep from The Two Towers book. Then there was the questionable portrayals and designs of characters such as a pantless Aragorn, peasant Gimli, down-on-his-luck Boromir, and the Temu Aslan with bat wings which was the Balrog.
Suffice to say that, though critically panned and mocked by viewers, Bakshi’s The Lord of the Rings animated film still made $30.4 million dollars at the box office despite it being limited by the amount of theaters and territories it was released in. Compare that to The War of the Rohirrim which was shown on 2,600 domestic screens and 50 territories both small and large, adding thousands of more screens to watch it on, making Rohirrim’s opening weekend take absolutely dismal when put in that context.
All those screens and territories only so that this Warner Bros. film could bring in $10.3 million globally during its opening weekend. That said, domestically, The War of the Rohirrim will not come close to The Lord of the Rings animated film. As for globally, prior to the global figure being released, I would have predicted that Rohirrim could have beaten LOTR’s lifetime gross.
However, now that I know the global box office was less than $5.7 million over its opening weekend, I am not so sure. In fact, I would be surprised if The War of the Rohirrim reaches $20 million in global sales (box office estimates ranged from $15 million to $25 million domestically). Which is horrible for a movie that allegedly cost $30 million to make and has been released on so many screens in a large number of territories.
Thinking about it even further, Rohirrim might not even hit $15 million globally because, during its second weekend, Mufasa: The Lion King and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 will be released. And if kids are given the choice of which movie to watch, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is going to be the first choice, Mufasa second, and Rohirrim not even a consideration. It’s hard enough for a movie to outperform its opening weekend during the second. For Rohirrim, that is nigh impossible since there isn’t a lot of positive word-of-mouth from those who have seen the movie, mixed reviews, and the aforementioned movies being released at that time.
So can The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim beat Bakshi’s The Lord of the Rings animated film’s $30.4 million lifetime box office sales? The answer is a resounding no. And, if Rohirrim fails to beat Bakshi’s The Lord of the Rings, that means it doesn’t even break even and will be a major flop at the box office.
It would take an intervention from Eru Ilúvatar himself to save The War of the Rohirrim at the box office.
Author’s Note:
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