“Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” Will Screen First Two Episodes in Theaters

Amazon’s epic Middle-earth saga will appear on the big screen before it heads home.

It feels appropriate that the first work set in Middle-earth since Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies will appear on the big screen before it heads to television. Amazon’s hugely ambitious The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will play in theaters in special fan events across the world on August 31, two days before its streaming debut on Amazon Prime Video on September 2. Once The Rings of Power appears on Amazon, you’ll be able to watch it in a one-episode-per-week format for its remaining six episodes every Friday.

You can check out Cinemark’s landing page for the event—tickets will become available today, August 22, at 9 am PT. You’ll need to be a Cinemark Movie Reward member to sign up. The first two episodes of the series will play on big screens in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Ireland, Argentina, Colombia, Australia, and New Zealand.

Amazon is pulling out all the stops for The Rings of Power, the largest series they’ve ever produced and, quite possibly, the largest series ever made. That’s how New Zealand’s minister for economic development, Stuart Nash, described The Rings of Power, which was filmed in New Zealand and carried a production price tag of over $400 million. (That price tag is even higher, according to Time.)

Here’s the official synopsis for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power:

Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power brings to screens for the very first time the heroic legends of the fabled Second Age of Middle-earth’s history. 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. Beginning in a time of relative peace, the series follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth. From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains, to the majestic forests of the elf-capital of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor, to the furthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone.

For more on The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, check out these stories:

A Sweeping Look Behind-the-Scenes of “Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”

Roam the Elven Realms in “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” Second Trailer

Watch a Sneak Peek of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”

“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” Trailer Reveals a True Epic

Featured image: “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.” Credit: Prime Video