The November refresh for HBO Max is especially meaningful for fans of The Lord of the Rings and the wider Middle-earth universe.

　　The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies joined HBO Max's streaming library at the start of November, and it adds to the previous two Hobbit movies, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. The three Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings movies are already on the service, so the complete theatrical Middle-earth series is now available to stream.

　　Additionally, the 1977 Rankin/Bass animated version of The Hobbit is available on HBO Max. However, it doesn't appear that the Ralph Bakshi version of The Lord of the Rings is on HBO Max.

　　Ian McKellen, who played Gandalf in the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings films, celebrated the news with a tweet in which he said "Hurrah!" and then wondered which order to watch them in. His verdict? Start with The Hobbit, because that's what J.R.R. Tolkien wrote first.

　　More Lord of the Rings entertainment is coming, as Amazon is working on a TV show that is currently filming in New Zealand, while the company is also planning a Lord of the Rings MMO.

　　In addition to these Middle-earth movies, HBO Max added 13 Going On 30, The Dark Knight, and Free Willy this month, among many others. You can see the full list of new additions here.

　　For more streaming info, check out the November lists for Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, and Disney+.