The Lord of the Rings returns to Netflix very soon – but it might only be temporary
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The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy returns to Netflix, but it may only be a temporary stay.
Revealed in a new Netflix press release, the world’s top streaming service will become home to Peter Jackson’s award-winning film series on February 1.
The announcement ends a nearly three-year wait for the trilogy’s return to Netflix, and marks the first time all three films will be available on the platform at the same time. However, the movies are only available to stream on Netflix in the US. UK viewers will need to sign up to Now TV to watch them on the British coast.
The return of The Lord of the Rings to Netflix is a curious move. One of Netflix’s biggest rivals – Prime Video – is home to The Rings of Power, which acts as a pseudo-prequel series to JRR Tolkien’s legendary fantasy book series and, by default, Jackson’s films.
On the surface, it would have made more sense for Amazon to sign a licensing deal with Embracer Group, the current owner of the rights to Lord of the Rings, to bring the trilogy to its streaming service. However, given that the creators of The Rings of Power are just as confused as all of us about the franchise’s new owners, who knows why that won’t be the case.
It’s also unclear how Netflix’s latest licensing deal will affect The Lord of The Rings trilogy on HBO Max. Currently, all three films are available to watch on the main Warner Bros. streaming platform. Discovery (WBD). Warner Bros. was indirectly responsible for distributing the films in the early 2000s – it owns New Line Cinema, the subsidiary behind Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. So it would be odd if WBD removed the three movies from the HBO Max back catalog so that Netflix could stream them exclusively.
A new Netflix adventure, but for how long?
Likewise, it remains to be seen how long Netflix’s latest Lord of the Rings licensing deal will last.
Previously, The Fellowship of the Ring – the first installment in the hugely popular film series – made its Netflix debut in January 2018. However, it was removed a few months later before returning in August. The second stay lasted five months before The Fellowship of the Ring was completely removed in January 2019.
Meanwhile, the sequels – The Two Towers and The Return of the King – were added in September 2019 before leaving in March 2020. Those departures coincided with the official launch of HBO Max, with the streaming platform released to the world in May 2020.
Given the previously short stints of the films on Netflix, it will be interesting to see how long all three films will last. Getting the rights to third-party content is an expensive endeavor for any streaming company, so it’s unclear how long Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies will stay on Netflix.
It’s possible that the streaming giant has struck a temporary deal with WBD to add the movies to its back catalog, with a view to attracting new subscribers. Netflix has set a deadline for cracking down on password sharing, so perhaps this is its way of enticing new customers to buy their own accounts. However, given that Netflix added 7.66 million new subscribers to its user base in the fourth quarter of 2022, convincing people to sign up takes no effort.
Anyway, based on the brevity of their previous Netflix forays, we’d recommend streaming The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy as soon as February 1 rolls around. Who knows how long they’ll be available, so it’s best to check them out as soon as possible.
For more Lord of the Rings and other streaming content, read what we know about The Rings of Power season 2. Plus, find out if Jackson’s trilogy is part of our list of the best HBO Max movies, or see what the best Netflix movies and best Prime Video are. movies are now.