Animation fantasy film “Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim”: First Look Wows…

The prestigious Annecy International Animation Film Festival was host to another warmly received first-look reveal today, as Warner Bros. Animation and New Line Cinema unveiled their anime Tolkien epic The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim. The feature film project is being animated by Sola Entertainment (Blade Runner: Black Lotus, Ultraman, Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045) in Tokyo, and is due in theaters December 13 through Warner Bros. Pictures.

Director Kenji Kamiyama (Blade Runner: Black Lotus) and Andy Serkis, the iconic mo-cap portrayer of Gollum in the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movie trilogies, took to the stage to showcase a 20-minute preview of the new movie, which was applauded by a full house at the Grand Bonlieu. An early look at footage was presented at Annecy last year.

WB debuted first-look imagery through People and other outlets, featuring shots of the characters Hèra (voiced by Gaia Wise), Helm (Brian Cox) and Wulf (Luke Pasquialino).

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is set 150 years before the events of the original trilogy, exploring the untold story behind the fortress of Helm’s Deep and delving into the life of one of Middle-earth’s most legendary figures: the mighty King of Rohan, Helm Hammerhand. It marks the first LOTR adaptation led by a female protagonist: Hammerhand’s daughter, the clan’s lone survivor of the devastating war between Rohan and the Dunledings, who has been dubbed Hèra for the animated epic.

The presentation also announced that Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, the director/writer/producer duo behind the blockbuster live-action LOTR and Hobbit trilogies, have boarded Rohirrim as an executive producer, as has

The film’s voice cast also features Lorraine Ashbourne, Benjamin Wainwright, Laurence Ubong Williams, Shaun Dooley, Michael Wildman, Jude Akuwudike, Bilal Hasna and Janine Duvitski. Miranda Otto reprises her role as Eowyn from the Jackson movies to narrate the bloody history.

[Sources: Deadline, People, The One Ring]