The Lord Of The Rings Franchise's Biggest Flop Is Getting A Second Life On Max

Don't make a "Lord of the Rings" anime, they said. Look, it bombed at the box office, they said. There's no doubt that Warner Bros.' animated experiment with "The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim" looked dead on arrival — or, at least, shortly afterward. Indeed, after a relatively decent amount of buzz in the lead up to its premiere, the movie landed with a thud in theaters back in mid-December.

According to The Numbers, the movie had a production budget of around $30 million. It proceeded to bring in less than $5 million during its opening weekend. When the Rohirric prequel closed up shop less than a month later, it had just cracked the $20 million mark when adding up both domestic and international ticket sales. Remember, theaters take a significant portion of that, too. No matter what way you slice it, or what ancient sword you use to do so, this one was a box office flop.

So, that's it, right? Hardly. When "The War of the Rohirrim" hit the streaming current on Max on February 28, 2025, it quickly caught fire and hasn't looked back since. According to FlixPatrol, a site that aggregates viewership and streaming data, the movie has steadily topped the Max charts since then and is still the most-streamed film on the platform as of this writing. While this is little more than a silver lining for a studio looking for splashy box office numbers, there's no doubt this animated Middle-earth adventure is getting a new lease on life now that people can see it without committing to a trip to their local theater.

J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth mythology is infamously complicated, and anyone who isn't a firmly committed member of the fandom (like this poor writer) can easily get caught up in the details and quickly be left behind. As a reminder, "The War of the Rohirrim" is a prequel movie for "The Two Towers." Set over 200 years before "The Lord of the Rings" (and long before "The Hobbit," too), it centers on the then-young realm of Rohan.

This specific story chronicles the fall of the famous king of Rohan, Helm Hammerhand (Brian Cox), as he first provokes his enemies and then falls to their combined armies. With Gondor tied up elsewhere again, the Westfold (and everything else) goes up in flames, forcing the king and his allies to flee to the then-unfinished fortress of the Hornburg (eventually to be renamed Helm's Deep — yes, that Helm's Deep).

"The War of the Rohirrim" closely follows the actions of Helm's daughter Héra (Gaia Wise). It's a smart move, as the character is in Tolkien's Middle-earth literature but only as an unnamed and inconsequential individual who is sidelined by the larger story of her father and brothers. The movie builds out a story arc for this overlooked hero, using her to create a connected and complete narrative that extends across one of Rohan's grimmest points in its short history.

The movie clearly came out as a way for Warner Bros. to maintain its rights to the Middle-earth cinematic IP as it prepares bigger, live-action movies like "The Hunt for Gollum" (which Andy Serkis is directing for a 2027 release, at the earliest). However, while it may be an inessential part of the adapted Tolkien library destined to be overshadowed by previous and future installments, "The War of the Rohirrim" is still a fun trip back to Peter Jackson's Middle-earth — one that's dripping with nostalgia and tells an epic story worth hearing every time.

"The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim" is currently streaming on Max.