'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power': Should you watch the movies ahead of the prequel's release?
With less than a week to go before 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power' takes on HBO's 'House of the Dragon', the buzz also shifts toward the movies. The bigger question is if you should watch them before the release of the much-awaited Amazon Prime shows, and the answer's a bit of a mixed bag.
'The Rings of Power' is based on JRR Tolkien's popular world of Middle Earth. The official synopsis reads, "This epic drama is set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and will take viewers back to an era in which great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory, and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were tested, hope hung by the finest of threads, and the greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkien’s pen threatened to cover all the world in darkness."
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For the newcomers or the casually curious, the confusion is about how much knowledge of JRR Tolkien's works, then watching the movie helps to perhaps better understand the franchise that's known to densest. After The Hobbit series, WB and the Tolkien estate had a legal falling out (per CBR), and while it was eventually resolved, the TV rights were eventually acquired by Amazon. This meant that the series drew a major part of its content from the source material. While the Tolkien estate still contributed a lot more on the creative front, the streaming giant partnered with WB and New Line Cinema for more access to the films' footage.
All things considered, the show is still set thousands of years before the events of the movie and The Hobbit, and that would mean it's easier to watch without not having to make too many connections to the movie. Conversely, it would help if someone's watched the movies prior so that they could draw parallels and even understand the concepts in-depth. It's a choice, really. And with the kind of popularity the movies gained in the 2000s, there's always a reason to give them a whirl.
'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power' premieres on September 1 in the US on Amazon Prime Video.