With a return to Middle Earth coming in the near future, Lord of the Rings could be seeing its biggest media expansion in years. The purchase of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit rights by Embracer Group has paved way to speculation about the franchise’s future in terms of film and television. However, there could also eventually be comic news considering the company’s other holdings.
Embracer Group is a Swedish entertainment company known for video game development. However, the company has been making some big moves over the past couple years. The latest may be opening the door to a broad expansion of The Lord of the Rings related media. Considering the popularity of the classic novels and the pop culture following the films have garnered, it wouldn’t be surprising if Embracer Group led the way for Dark Horse Comics to expand Middle Earth based storytelling via comics.
Last year, Embracer Group purchased Dark Horse Comics, making the comic publisher the company’s tenth operative group. The acquisition was completed in March of this year. Dark Horse Comics is known for its transmedia projects and has published many licensed series, including Stranger Things, Avatar (James Cameron), Avatar (Nickelodeon), The Witcher, and many others. It has also published several books and comics related to major video game franchises (ex: The Legend of Zelda, Overwatch, Halo) and used to have publishing rights for the Star Wars and Alien franchises. Additionally, many series have had film or television adaptations from a wide range of companies, including Hellboy and The Umbrella Academy. Embracer Group’s purchasing of Middle Earth Enterprises could eventually add Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, or other works by J. R. R. Tolkien to Dark Horse Comics’ wide range of offerings. The purchase grants the company the production rights for films, games, books, merchandise, theme parks, and theatrical productions.
The world of Middle Earth extends past the films’ original trilogy and The Hobbit. From The Silmarillion and The Children of Húrin to The Fall of Gondolin and Tolkien’s Unfinished Tales, there is a plethora of untapped material for Dark Horse Comics to potentially pull from. Comic fans may be familiar with the 1989 adaptation of The Hobbit, which had the creative team of Chuck Dixon, David Wenzel, Bill Pearson, and Sean Deming. Published by Eclipse Comics, it is one of the only official comic adaptations of Tolkien’s classic novels. Fans have made their own comics inspired by Middle Earth and its iconic characters, but official comic adaptations or continuations have been nearly non-existent despite the franchise’s popularity.
Given that Dark Horse Comics has published series based on classic comic characters, republished older runs of series, and has licensing rights to many popular IPs, it would be in a good position to provide Middle Earth offerings to readers if given the opportunity. Embracer Group has grown through acquisition of numerous video game companies and has been extending its reach into transmedia projects with other acquisitions. Leaving The Lord of the Rings, and Tolkien’s other Middle Earth works, out of the world of comics in the future would be a majorly missed opportunity. Respectful handling of the material would certainly be a must. While there has been no official word thus far, Dark Horse Comics might eventually have the chance to bring fans The Lord of the Rings and Middle Earth comics thanks to Embracer Groups’ acquisition of Middle Earth Enterprises.
