Leaked Amazon document reveals huge Lord Of The Rings TV series cost
A document containing Amazon’s internal viewing figures have been revealed by Reuters, and it contains some astonishing Lord Of The Rings news.
Buried within a lot of very technical information about what Amazon Prime members have been streaming, is the confirmation that not only did Amazon pay $250 million for the rights to make a new Lord Of The Rings TV series, that figure will double to $500 million (for one or two seasons), thanks to the production and marketing costs involved.
That means Amazon have gambled half a billion dollars on their Game Of Thrones style take on the Lord Of The Rings universe, before they’ve seen a single script – let alone hired a show-runner, or any cast-members.
“At half a billion dollars, the prequel would cost triple what Amazon paid for The Man in the High Castle seasons one and two, the documents show. That means it would need to draw three times the number of Prime members as The Man in the High Castle for an equal payoff,” Reuters revealed.
Considering the documents reveal The Man In The High Castle is one of Amazon’s most successful shows (with season one of High Castle second only to the top-ranked The Grand Tour in terms of streamers), that’s pretty ambitious.
Like The Lord Of The Rings, The Man In The High Castle is an adaptation of a book – it’s based on the 1962 novel of the same name by Philip K. Dick, set in an alternate universe America ruled by Nazis.
However, unlike The Lord Of The Rings, High Castle had never been adapted before, The Long Of The Rings TV series has some pretty stiff competition in terms of Peter Jackson’s perfect movies, which will set expectations pretty high for this new take on the material.
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