Embracer Group Acquires Rights to The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit: All Details

Embracer's intellectual property rights of J.R.R. Tolkien's famed trilogy also contains the film rights.

By Isabella Anderson, Bloomberg | Updated: 18 August 2022 21:16 IST

Embracer Group Acquires Rights to The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit: All Details

Photo Credit: Bloomberg

Embracer is looking at IP to generate sales from the mass appeal of characters and stories

Highlights

Embracer has acquired the IP rights for J.R.R Tolkien's works
The deal covers The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and The Hobbit
Embracer's shares fell as much as 7 percent in early trading on Thursday

Embracer Group AB, one of Europe's biggest gaming firms, ramped up its acquisition pace after striking deals for six companies including the intellectual property rights for The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and The Hobbit. “Gaming is the best way to monetize IPs in the long term but not necessarily the most efficient way to create new IPs,” Embracer's chief executive, Lars Wingefors, said in an interview following the group's second-quarter report.

The CEO says the acquisition of Middle-earth Enterprises “enables many companies within the group to work on IPs we control over the long term” and it will now join Embracer's existing catalogue of more than 800 owned and controlled IPs.

Gaming companies such as Embracer are increasingly focused on IP as a way to generate sales from the mass appeal of characters and stories that have already drawn big audiences. Embracer's IP of J.R.R. Tolkien's famed trilogy also contains the film rights, giving them a financial interest in upcoming projects such as the Amazon series The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power.

Karlstad-based Embracer, which is seen as a so-called serial acquirer due to an aggressive growth strategy, also announced the creation of its 11th operating group, Freemode, where several of the new acquisitions will be housed. Freemode's businesses “are more niche” and will include a focus on retro gaming, Wingefors said, pointing to newly acquired Limited Run Games--the “leading nerd retro-gaming publisher” on the market.

Embracer's shares fell as much as 7 percent in early trading following the release of the report, but were quoted 1.8 percent down at 2:30 pm Stockholm time/ 6pm IST. Wingefors attributes the slow quarter to the company having “no significant new releases” compared to the same period a year ago. However, the CEO says he has high expectations for the rest of 2022 with “a good number of titles coming up.”

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The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Release Date 15 March 2002
Language English
Genre Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
Cast
Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Sean Bean, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, John Rhys-Davies, Orlando Bloom, Liv Tyler, Cate Blanchett, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Ian Holm, Andy Serkis, Sala Baker, Marton Csokas, Lawrence Makoare, Craig Parker, Mark Ferguson, Peter McKenzie, Harry Sinclair
Director
Peter Jackson
Producer
Barrie M. Osborne, Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Tim Sanders

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Release Date 28 March 2003
Language English
Genre Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Cast
Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Andy Serkis, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, John Rhys-Davies, Orlando Bloom, Bernard Hill, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Miranda Otto, David Wenham, Brad Dourif, Karl Urban, Liv Tyler, Cate Blanchett, Sean Bean, Craig Parker, John Leigh, Bruce Hopkins, John Bach, Nathaniel Lees, John Noble
Director
Peter Jackson
Producer
Barrie M. Osborne, Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Release Date 6 February 2004
Language English
Genre Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Cast
Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Andy Serkis, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, John Rhys-Davies, Orlando Bloom, Bernard Hill, Miranda Otto, David Wenham, Karl Urban, Hugo Weaving, Liv Tyler, Cate Blanchett, John Noble, Ian Holm, Sean Bean, Marton Csokas, Lawrence Makoare, Thomas Robins, Christopher Lee, Brad Dourif, Bruce Spence
Director
Peter Jackson
Producer
Barrie M. Osborne, Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh

Read Review

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 1

Release Date 2 September 2022
Genre Adventure, Fantasy
Cast
Robert Aramayo, Owain Arthur, Nazanin Boniadi, Morfydd Clark, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Ema Horvath, Markella Kavenagh, Joseph Mawle, Tyroe Muhafidin, Sophia Nomvete
Director
J. A. Bayona, Wayne Che Yip, Charlotte Brändström
Producer
J. D. Payne, Patrick McKay, Lindsey Weber, Callum Greene, J. A. Bayona, Belén Atienza, Justin Doble, Jason Cahill, Gennifer Hutchison, Bruce Richmond, Sharon Tal Yguado

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Further reading: Embracer, Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Embracer Group, The Lord of the Rings Rings of Power, Middle Earth Enterprises, Hollywood