This company has acquired the rights to The Lord of the Rings franchise – Times of India

Gaming giant Embracer Group has acquired Middle-earth Enterprises, the company that holds the rights to The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and works by J.R.R. Tolkien in the Middle-earth universe, as per a report by Gamespot. For the rights to the creative franchise, Embracer has partnered with The Saul Zaentz Company, the current owner of the franchise and parent company of Middle-earth Enterprises.
With this deal, Embracer Group gets the “worldwide rights to motion pictures, video games, board games, merchandising, theme parks and stage productions,” based on Tolkien’s Middle-earth.
As per the report, The Saul Zaentz Company has been considering selling off Middle-earth Enterprises since early this year, and at that time, industry insiders expected Amazon to lap up the IP rights, but that hasn’t happened. It should be noted that Amazon’s The Rings of Power TV show is going to premiere on September 2. Then, there is EA’s ‘Heroes of Middle-earth’ mobile game, Daedalic Entertainment’s Gollum game, the ongoing development of The Lord Of The Rings Online MMO plus The War of the Rohirrim animated film.
If you are wondering how big Embracer Group is, then we have some details that would help you form an estimate. It was previously known as THQ Nordic and currently, is the parent company of publishers like Deep Silver, THQ Nordic, Gearbox and others and also owns over 100 game studios. Embracer Group has been expanding in recent years with multiple acquisitions.
So, what lies in the future when it comes to The Lord of the Rings and other works of Tolkien? Embracer Group, in a press release, said that it is looking to explore “additional movies based on iconic characters such as Gandalf, Aragorn, Gollum, Galadriel, Eowyn and other characters from the literary works of J.R.R. Tolkien.” New films based on the Middle-earth universe? That should make the fans quite happy.