Any article about Amazon’s Lord of the Rings show must begin with the $1 billion price-tag. That’s $250 million for the rights and $750 million for, y’know, actually making the thing. That’s a lot of money. Just imagine how many po-tay-toes you could buy for a billion bucks. Even Elijah Wood, who played Frodo in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, was taken back by the cost.
“That’s crazy to me. That wouldn’t have happened back then because the Tolkien estate didn’t know what they had as much as they do now,” the actor told IndieWire. “It’s all a product of the world they live in. They know now what they have, they know how lucrative it is.” It’s the perfect (expensive) storm of Amazing having all the money and hoping a recognizable title can become the biggest thing on television (or streaming) in a post-Game of Thrones world:
“The thing that was wild about Lord of the Rings was that it felt like an independent movie, made by [Warner Bros. subsidiary] New Line in New Zealand. It was kind of tucked away. If that movie was made now, it would be under very different circumstances and a much larger machine. That doesn’t mean it can’t have soul. It’s just harder to do that.” (Via)
Little is known about the series, other than it will take place during the Second Age. Hopefully that’s also the most soulful age. Otherwise, Elijah Wood is not interested.
(Via IndieWire)
