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The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum
now has an official release date, and it continues a franchise trend. Based on the book series by J. R. R. Tolkien, the first live-action Lord of the Rings movie arrived in 2001 with Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Five live-action movies later, Andy Serkis is now set to direct and star in The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, which was first announced in summer 2024.
Warner Bros. now reveals that The Hunt for Gollum, will release in theaters on December 17, 2027. The announcement confirms that Serkis will direct and star in the film, with Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens producing. The upcoming film is set to be one of two Lord of the Rings movies that Jackson and his creative partners oversee. The Hunt for Gollum‘s script will hail from Walsh and Boyens, along with Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou. This new release date confirmation continues a franchise trend, with all previous live-action movies having also released in December.
This announcement accompanies confirmation that Warner Bros. has dated the new Evil Dead movie for July 24, 2026, and M. Night Shyamalan’s Remain for October 23, 2026.
What This Means For The Hunt For Gollum
It was originally reported that The Hunt for Gollum was going to arrive in December 2026. During a February appearance at Fan Expo Vancouver, per The Direct, Serkis confirmed that the film wasn’t going to make this window, with December 2027 the new targeted window. The star revealed that the film was, at the time, “right at the beginning of the writing process,” with prep set to start later in the year, and filming then set to get underway in 2026.
This new announcement from Warner Bros. fits with the timeline that Serkis provided, meaning there is still quite a long wait before any actual filming will be done on the movie. With a more secure timeline, though, cast announcements could follow in the coming months. It remains unconfirmed, for example, whether original Lord of the Rings cast members like Ian McKellen (Gandalf), Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn), Orlando Bloom (Legolas), or Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) will be reprising their roles, but news to this effect may not be far off.
More to come…
Source: Warner Bros.