Posted on 03/21/2018 7:50:31 AM PDT by Simon Green
And you thought Game of Thrones looked expensive.
Amazon’s Lord of the Rings prequel will cost the company an estimated $500 million, according to Reuters.
The rights alone to a piece of J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy franchise apparently cost the company $250 million. Amazon has made a deal for two seasons, and the production and marketing costs for both should total around another $250 million. This would make the LOTR project easily the most expensive TV series ever made.
In fact, it’s more than it cost Peter Jackson to make all three movies in his Oscar-winning Lord of the Rings trilogy, at least, before their marketing costs (according to Box Office Mojo).
And the Amazon drama will have the additional challenge — some might say benefit — of not being a reboot of the familiar tale of Frodo and the One Ring. Instead, the Amazon project will be a prequel series based on Tolkien’s works with an as-yet-unreleased story line.
By comparison, HBO spends about $15 million per episode on GoT at this point — probably a bit more for the upcoming final season — plus marketing costs.
Last fall, former Amazon Studios head Roy Price declared the company was gunning for its own GoT: “I do think Game of Thrones is to TV as Jaws and Star Wars was to the movies of the 1970s. It’ll inspire a lot of people. Everybody wants a big hit and certainly that’s the show of the moment in terms of being a model for a hit.”
Tell this story for example,
King Elessar now ruled [in] all the lands of those realms of old he was king, save in Rohan only; for he renewed to Éomer the gift of Cirion, and Éomer took again the Oath of Eorl. Often he fulfilled it. For though Sauron had passed, the hatreds and evils that he bred had not died, and the King of the West had many enemies to subdue before the White Tree could grow in peace.
Will they be able to resist the temptation to use it as a platform to promote leftist narratives?
Unlikely.
They will probably end up bluntly clubbing the viewer with race, gender and class preaching, until they are scrambling to change the channel.
I think they’d do better by adapting Glen Cook’s Chronicles of the Black Company.
I like to tell whoever will listen that Sauron, the balrogs, the “big” spider Shelob, etc. were really just small-fry compared to their progenitors - Melkor & Ungoliant.
To tell the story of the Silmarillian - from the beginning would be awesome, and epic - a LOTR ‘Clash of the Titans’ if you will...
And then I found this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0N45ijMZNwc
There were 3 Hobbit movies. Perhaps you have successfully purged one from your memory.
I’m excited. Would love to see all his works produced. Just home Amazon does it right.
I hope if they have success they continue on to re-do Lord of the Rings. Flesh it all out with Tom Bombadil, ect.
I absolutely loved the trilogy by Abercrombie. I have it on audible, the narration is spectacular.
I don’t get it. Game of Thrones is working up to a Big Conclusion. A LOTR prequel series will not be working up to a Big Conclusion that matters. Why not take the trilogy and update it? Make it more faithful to the books with some of this supplemental material?
Amazon now does weekly programs just like all the networks. I’ve been watching a pretty good one they’re doing. Sneaky Pete.
I’ll be impressed when they try to do the Silmarillion.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Silmarillion
Pitched by Jacko as a Sauron origin story that initially pits Eldarin vs. Man with hobbits as narrators, interlopers, thieves, spectators, etc.
Sauron bests the Eldarin (Orcs kill Denethor in the pilot, right?) and so they reluctantly turn to Man for an alliance; with the whole thing framed GoT-style (but slightly out of canon) viz the Five Wizards.
The Silmarillion is a compendium of decades of writings by Tolkein on the history of ME that were compiled by his son Christopher after his death. There is a ton of source material to draw from.
If they want a GoT type story I think The Fall of Numenor would work best, with Sauron (still in human form at this point) acting as First Minister to Ar-Pharazon, whispering lies to get him to bump off his relatives or send them into exile. Utimately he convinces the king to build and send a massive fleet to try to invade Valinor itself. Needless to say the result is not pretty and does not go well for the poor king. :-)
What channel is it on?
Is it in TV Guide?
“What channel is it on?”
A show that has yet to be produced? When it is produced it will be on Amazon Prime - which I can watch on my TV, thanks.
“Is it in TV Guide?”
Are all satellite TV and cable TV shows listed in TV guide now? So why would you expect all TV shows to be listed in TV guide?
“...based on Tolkien’s works with an as-yet-unreleased story line. “
It’s going to be a reality show, “Gandalf Knows Best...”
“I am curious Hobbit”
It’s a pay version of youtube.
No more tv than a podcast is a radio show.
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