The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy is returning to Netflix – but it might just be a temporary stay.
Revealed in a new Netflix press release, the world’s best streaming service will become home to the award-winning Peter Jackson series of films on February 1.
The announcement comes to an end to the nearly three-year wait for the trilogy to return to Netflix, and marks the first time that all three films will be available simultaneously on the platform. However, the movies will only be available to stream on Netflix in the US. UK viewers will have to register with Now TV to watch it on British beaches.
Bringing The Lord of the Rings back on Netflix is a curious move. One of Netflix’s biggest competitors is Prime Video – home to The Rings of Power, which serves as a pseudo-prequel to J.R.R. Tolkien’s legendary fantasy book series, and Jackson’s films by default.
On the surface, it made sense for Amazon to strike a licensing deal with Embracer Group, the current owner of the rights to Lord of the Rings, to bring the trilogy to the streaming service. However, with the creators of The Rings of Power just as confused as all of us about the franchise’s new owners, who knows why that hasn’t happened.
It’s also unclear how the latest Netflix licensing deal will affect The Lord of The Rings trilogy on HBO Max. Currently, the three films can be watched on Warner Bros.’s main streaming platform. Discovery (WBD). Warner Bros. Indirectly responsible for film distribution in the early 2000s – it owns New Line Cinema, the subsidiary that was behind Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. So it would be strange for WBD to remove the three movies from HBO Max’s back catalog to allow Netflix to stream them exclusively.
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Likewise, it remains to be seen how long Netflix’s latest Lord of the Rings licensing arrangement will last.
Previously, The Fellowship of the Ring – the first entry in the hugely popular series – debuted on Netflix in January 2018. However, it was removed a few months later before returning in August. Her second residency lasted five months before The Fellowship of the Ring was completely removed in January 2019.
Meanwhile, its sequels — The Two Towers and The Return of the King — were added in September 2019 before departing in March 2020. Those outings coincided with the official launch of HBO Max, with the streaming platform launching to the world in May 2020.
Given the previous shorts’ stints on Netflix, it will be interesting to see how long the three will last. Acquiring the rights to any third-party content is an expensive endeavor for any streaming company, so it’s unclear how long Jackson’s Lord of the Rings flicks will stay on Netflix.
It’s possible that the streaming giant has agreed to a temporary deal with WBD to add movies to its back catalog, with the goal of attracting new subscribers. Netflix has set a deadline for its password-sharing campaign, so perhaps this is its way of getting new customers to buy their own. However, given that Netflix added 7.66 million new subscribers to its user base in the fourth quarter of 2022, it’s not struggling to get people to sign up.
Regardless, based on the brevity of their previous Netflix outings, we’d recommend you stream the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy as soon as February 1st rolls around. Who knows how long they’ll be available, so it’s best to watch them 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 The Jackson Trilogy is part of our list of the best HBO Max movies, or watch the best Netflix movies and the best Prime Video movies available right now.