The Lord of the Rings, Hobbit, and Tolkien IP to Be Acquired by Embracer Group

By Cade Onder

In a sudden late-night bombshell, it was announced that Embracer Group has entered an agreement to acquire the IPs for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Of course, The Lord of the Rings is one of the biggest media franchises of all-time, courtesy of the novels from J.R.R. Tolkien. The books are some of the most famous and renowned pieces of literature out there, eventually spawning the Academy Award-winning film franchise from director Peter Jackson. Numerous video games, films, books, and other forms of media have all helped contribute to the world created by Tolkein and now it's going to get a bit bigger. This news comes just ahead of Amazon's brand-new TV show The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

Embracer Group has entered an agreement to acquire The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit from The Saul Zaentz Company, the rights holders for the franchise since 1976. This makes this deal rather historic given the company has been responsible for all of the official adaptations of the series and they're now handing it off to Embracer Group. It's unclear how much money will be spent to acquire this IP, but it certainly can't be cheap. 

"I am truly excited to have The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, one of the world's most epic fantasy franchises join the Embracer family, opening up more transmedia opportunities including synergies across our global group," said Lars Wingefors, Founder and Group CEO Embracer Group. "I am thrilled to see what lies in the future for this IP with Freemode and Asmodee as a start within the group. Going forward, we also look forward to collaborating with both existing and new external licensees of our increasingly stronger IP portfolio."

As of right now, it's unclear what Embracer Group plans to do with the IP. New ownership could mean a lot of different things, especially if it's preparing for Lord of the Rings to return to the peak of its popularity thanks to the new Amazon series. Either way, it sounds like we can expect new games and other projects. Whether new movies will happen anytime soon remains to be seen, but this is a major bombshell for the entire entertainment industry. Embracer Group also recently acquired a bunch of Square Enix's western teams, such as Crystal Dynamics.

What do you think of Embracer's latest acquisition? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @Cade_Onder.

[H/T Wario64]

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