Weta Digital, the Academy Award-winning visual effects company that made "The Lord of the Rings" and "Avatar" possible, is making original animated content for cinemas and streaming for the first time in its 25-year history. The company also said Thursday that Prem Akkaraju had joined the New Zealand-based shop as CEO.

Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, the married filmmaking team behind "The Lord of the Rings" and majority stakeholders in the company, plan to write, produce and direct several of the projects for Weta Animated.

"We are huge fans of animated storytelling in all of its forms, but it...