Amazon Announces Production of 'The Lord of the Rings' TV Adaptation
Amazon Studios is bringing 'The Lord of the Rings" series to the TV screen, the company announced on Nov.13. The company has acquired the global television rights to the project and will be accessible to Amazon Prime members.
According to Fortune, Amazon acquired the global television rights to the classic " The Lord of the Rings", and Amazon Studios is fully committed to recreating Middle Earth into a multi-season TV series, with the potential of creating additional spin-off series. Amazon will produce the series in partnership with HarperCollins and Tolkien's estate, as well as Warner Bros.'s New Line Cinema, which also distributed the three of "The Lord of the Rings" movies back in 2001 and 2003.
Amazon has won several Oscars and Emmys for some of its original movies and television series, but the e-commerce giant has yet to produce a massive drama series that can even match the global success of shows like Netflix's "Stranger Things" or HBO's 'Game of Thrones". According to Variety, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos asked Amazon Studios chief Roy Price with creating a high-end drama series that has global appeal. Amazon recently confirmed five projects on Nov.10-two comedy pilots, a period drama from Wong Kar-wai and Paul Attanasio, a comedy series starring Maya Rudolph and Fred Armisen, and a Seth Rogen-produced comic book tv adaptation.
According to Matt Galsor, one of Tolkien Estate and Trust and Harper Collins representatives, the series will bring several unexplored stories based on J.R.R. Tolkien's writings, which leaves several open doors to create side stories based on Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit" trilogy.
The series will focus on the story behind "The Fellowship of the Ring" and will be based on new original storylines from J.R.R. Tolkien's original writings. The cost and series release timing were not disclosed, although reports said that Amazon paid at least $250 million to get the exclusive rights alone. Amazon has not yet responded to request for any disclosure on the price, CNBC wrote.
