New to TVNZ+: March 21-27

If you’ve ever craved a Teutonic twist on Game of Thrones and The Lord of the Rings, TVNZ+ is about to premiere a big-budget fantasy series that was filmed as both a movie and a TV epic.

Based on Wolfgang Hohlbein’s novel Hagen of Tronje and inspired by German folklore, War of the Kingdoms (March 25) imagines how “forbidden love, wounded pride, and political intrigue combine in a world where ancient magical beings and humans vie for power”.

“The budget, according to producers, was north of $50 million,” The Hollywood Reporter said:

To make the numbers work, Constantin Films created a new model for the production, shooting a feature film version of the story, titled Hagen, and the six-part TV series simultaneously …

Hagen, the feature film, floundered in theatres, pulling in fewer than 178,000 viewers in Germany, representing around a box office take of around $2 million, a disappointing showing for a film designed to be epic.

War of the Kingdoms … represents an opportunity to grasp streaming victory from the jaws of theatrical defeat.

According to a Spanish reviewer, “While it has its shortcomings (personally, I would have liked a bit more action in its opening scenes), War of the Kingdoms is a miniseries that makes a powerful impact.”

War of the Kingdoms continues a run of foreign drama premieres that includes the same-day premieres of Paris Murders, Libertad and Ben.

Also new are the TVNZ linear debuts previewed here and every episode of the charming UK comedy, Cheaters, about a drunken hotel tryst in which the one-night-stand lovers return home to their significant others and discover they’re now neighbours.

And streaming from March 24 here the movies:

• The Last of the Mohicans
• 28 Days
• Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
• Gridiron Gang
• Muppets from Space.