Audiences will soon have the opportunity to return to the land of hobbits, elves and dangerous jewelry, from the comfort of their couches.
A new episodic show based on J.R.R. Tolkien's “Lord of the Rings” book series has been given the green light at Amazon. Long rumored to be in development, the unnamed show has already been booked as a multi-season project with an option for a spin-off series. There is no release date as of this time.
“'The Lord of the Rings' is a cultural phenomenon that has captured the imagination of generations of fans through literature and the big screen,” Sharon Tal Yguado, Amazon Studios' head of scripted series said in a statement published on Deadline.
"We are honored to be working with the Tolkien Estate and Trust, HarperCollins and New Line on this exciting collaboration for television and are thrilled to be taking The Lord of the Rings fans on a new epic journey in Middle Earth."
“We are delighted that Amazon, with its longstanding commitment to literature, is the home of the first-ever multi-season television series for ‘The Lord of the Rings,’” Matt Galsor, a representative for the Tolkien Estate and Trust and HarperCollins added. "Amazon Studios [has] exceptional ideas to bring to the screen previously unexplored stories based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s original writings.”
Multiple industry outlets are suggesting that the deal between the estate, studio and various other stakeholders, as well as the estimated budget entailed in production, may make the series the most expensive of its kind ever to reach the small screen, outstripping the fortune spent on the creation of HBO's "Game of Thrones."
Indeed, it has long been said that the studio has been on the hunt for its own equivalent of "Game of Thrones" — a mandate for a fantasy project that would have a cult following, in order to compete with the massive success of that series coming from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos himself.
In getting access to the fertile ground of Tolkien's Middle Earth, the company may have found it as both the literary source material and the subsequent films based on it have massive built-in cult followings with massive financial upsides.
As proof of the commercial value of Tolkien's work, remember that director Peter Jackson's trilogy of films released from 2001 to 2003 grossed over $6 billion worldwide. As well, the series garnered 17 Academy Awards out of 30 total nominations (the final installation of the trilogy, "The Return of the King" won every Oscar that it was nominated for, including Best Picture).
A subsequent trilogy, based on "The Hobbit," a connected Middle-Earth story, grossed $977.4 million. As with any good movie franchise, both series produced more revenue through ancillary content such as video games and toys.
Alas, there are no further details about the Amazon project at this time, which is understandable, but also kind of a shame.
Shares