The Lords of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is the latest theatrical adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s literary classic, with the anime movie in the same continuity as the live-action films by Peter Jackson. Those movies were massive hits, and they made the legendary book property more well-known than ever. Unfortunately, the box office success of those films won’t be translated to the new anime, which shows a pitfall of the anime industry as a whole.

Anime isn’t quite as mainstream as some fans would believe, and The War of the Rohirrim proves it. The movie’s box office prospects are dreadfully low, especially given the pedigree of its series. Not only does this show the vulnerability of anime as a mainstream product, but it also showcases how adding an anime aesthetic is far from an instant recipe for success.

The Lord of the Rings Anime Movie Won’t Be a Box Office Hit

The War of the Rohirrim May Flop

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is currently poised to have an opening weekend box office haul that’s under $30 million USD, with even this being somewhat optimistic. To be fair, this isn’t an entirely awful box office projection, though this ultimately depends on how big the movie’s budget is. Nothing concrete has been stated about the movie’s budget, and this will ultimately be make or break. The War of the Rohirrim could end up being a low-key box office hit if the budget is low enough, but if the budget is near that of Hollywood animated films, it might instead fall flat on its face. Given the fact that the opening weekend will likely be its highest box office haul for any weekend of its release, its arguably paltry sum will do a lot of heavy lifting.

It doesn’t help that the movie has a lot of competition, most of which is far more mainstream in its appeal. Sony’s Kraven the Hunter releases in the same weekend as The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, and while the Sony Spider-Man Universe is itself expected to flop, it does draw away some of the anime’s potential viewership. In the later weeks of December, other films such as Mufasa, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and even the horror movie Nosferatu will serve as potential competition. Even if they are direct competition, their mere existence takes away from any attention that the Lord of the Rings anime might have received. It will definitely be a crowded Christmas box office, and that’s for the movies that actually have hype surrounding them. Thus, it’s hard to see a way in which the anime film really gains a foothold, especially given the general sentiment around it.

Why Fans Aren’t Enticed by the LOTR Anime

The War of the Rohirrim Isn’t As Attractive as Some Would Expect

The idea of a Lord of the Rings anime is enticing on paper, but it’s not doing enough to move the needle for The War of the Rohirrim. The issues are many, and some of them stem from the source material and subject matter. The War of the Rohirrim is too “anime” for some Lord of the Rings fans, while it’s also not particularly impressive for anime fans. Produced by Sola Digital Arts, the movie’s animation has been criticized for its flat, cheap aesthetic. It’s essentially a generic idea of what anime looks like, as opposed to looking like an actual anime movie. Compared to the general animation quality in episodes of shows such as Demon Slayer, it’s far from cinematic, let alone worthy of the Lord of the Rings legacy.

Anime has become far more mainstream than ever in the past decade, but even this has its limits. The biggest properties and brands in the medium continue to be franchises such as Dragon Ball, One Piece and other shonen works. While the idea of anime might be popular in a generic sense, this evergreen artistic concept doesn’t automatically equal dollars or interest. Thus, making a Lord of the Rings anime isn’t quite the recipe for success that some might otherwise have expected it to be. In fact, even the biggest anime movies tied to the most notable brands still usually fail to make the same amount of money as Hollywood productions. This could even be seen in movies such as Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, with the first of the Demon Slayer movies being one of the most notable exceptions.

​​​​​​The addition of a “niche” storytelling form is anathema even to The Lord of the Rings, causing Tolkien diehards to even question the movie. The same is the case with anime fans, who can usually see something more exciting from the anime medium on the regular. There isn’t much overlap between these two fandoms, at least not enough to make The War of the Rohirrim into anything resembling the box office juggernauts that its live-action predecessors were. Of course, there is the possibility that Warner Bros. Discovery never expected the new anime movie to be a particularly big hit. If so, that speaks to some of the biggest issues with the upcoming film and why so many are already rejecting it.

Cheap Western Tie-Ins are Cash Grabs for Anime’s Popularity

Anime’s Popularity Isn’t Universal

Due to the popularity of anime as a whole, especially with Western and international fans, it’s a tempting thought to think that simply making something into an anime will make it successful. This isn’t so, however, and The War of the Rohirrim is proof of that. The new Lord of the Rings anime movie proves that anime isn’t some universally beloved thing, and that fans of the medium tend to have exacting standards when it comes to what they watch. This was also seen in the recent show Suicide Squad Isekai, which combined a DC Comics team with a rather overused genre of anime. The idea was fun, but the finished product, by the time it was finished, was widely forgotten or even disliked by those who actually tuned in to watch it. It didn’t suddenly make a bunch of anime fans want to read the latest DC comic books, and the same was the case with DC fans who might want to check out the latest isekai anime.

If anything, simply slapping an anime aesthetic onto a Western property actually repels anime fans. It comes off as a cheap cash grab, of sorts, namely one that tries to lazily cash in on the success of the medium. In the case of The War of the Rohirrim, some have actually speculated that it’s a rather idle way for Warner Bros. Discovery to maintain the cinematic rights to the Lord of the Rings franchise, with simple rereleases of the Peter Jackson films not counting toward this legal mandate. It’s unknown if that’s actually the case, but it definitely comes off that way due to how much of the rest of the production feels. The sentiment that it’s a low effort cash-in that uses a particular trend of the day (anime, in this case) is rather strong among anime and Lord of the Rings fans, and it’s perhaps the biggest reason why the film isn’t expected to light the box office on fire. It’s rather unfortunate, especially if the movie ends up actually being good, but selling anime to mainstream audiences is a lot harder than it might seem.