Lord of the Rings series!?

For discussion of Amazon's new television show "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power"
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Frelga
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Re: Lord of the Rings series!?

Post by Frelga »

Possibly because it's Amazon video?
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Re: Lord of the Rings series!?

Post by Alatar »

I don't think so. Web Series normally refers to extra Webisodes, normally 5 - 10 mins long that supplement a TV series, like the ones does for Battlestar Galactica or the Animatrix.
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Re: Lord of the Rings series!?

Post by Voronwë the Faithful »

I think it is just a mistake of the reporter/newspaper. Amazon is not going to pay hundred's of millions of dollars for anything less than a full Game of Thrones like TV series.
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Re: Lord of the Rings series!?

Post by Primula Baggins »

Not . . . too Game of Thrones like, I hope. :shock:
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
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Re: Lord of the Rings series!?

Post by Voronwë the Faithful »

We'll see.
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Re: Lord of the Rings series!?

Post by Alatar »

Voronwë the Faithful wrote:I think it is just a mistake of the reporter/newspaper. Amazon is not going to pay hundred's of millions of dollars for anything less than a full Game of Thrones like TV series.

To be clear, I thought the Webisodes would be in addition to the TV Series, but I suspect you're right. I can't find any other mention of Web Series on the Net.
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Re: Lord of the Rings series!?

Post by Eldy »

Some big news being brought to TORn's forums by cats16:

http://newboards.theonering.net/forum/g ... 836#942836
In today's print edition of The Hollywood Reporter, we have a few more details of what's coming. The highlights (no link currently online):

- The $250 million dollar deal includes a five-season commitment
- Amazon is required to get the show in production within two years, and the total cost is expected to cost more than $1 billion when casting, production and VFX is factored in
- Amazon may use "material from the [New Line] films"
- Peter Jackson's attorney was not part of 2017's rights negotiations between Amazon and the Tolkien Estate, "but recently helped start a dialogue between Jackson and Amazon."
- No sign that the Weinstein brothers are attempting to wiggle their way into a cut of the deal (but apparently they received $12.5 million off of the first Hobbit film)
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Re: Lord of the Rings series!?

Post by Primula Baggins »

But—

Five seasons and a billion dollars spent on what?
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
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Re: Lord of the Rings series!?

Post by Eldy »

- $250M for the rights
- $10M production x 10 episodes x 5 seasons = $500M
- $50M marketing x 5 seasons = $250M

Just one possibility.
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Re: Lord of the Rings series!?

Post by Primula Baggins »

That sounds reasonable, I guess, for a GoT-scale series.

What I intended to ask, though, was what story? Is anything actually known?
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
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Re: Lord of the Rings series!?

Post by Eldy »

Ah, I see what you mean. :) I don't think we've had any further clues since last November when we learned that it would be based solely on LOTR and the Appendices and would be set "before FOTR". I think that a Young Aragorn series is the overwhelmingly likely scenario, since I think Amazon will want to capitalize on LOTR's name recognition and most popular characters, and following Aragorn's travels around Middle-earth provides an easy structure for incorporating lots of other well-known characters and settings as well.

Sharon Tal Yguado, Amazon Studios' head of scripted series (mentioned in the press release) made the following tweets shortly after the project was announced:

https://twitter.com/SharonTalYguado/sta ... 6426261505
Ask your Echo “who is Aragorn?” #LordOfTheRings
https://twitter.com/SharonTalYguado/sta ... 8204315649
Ask your echo “Which character is not affected by the power of the one ring?” #LordOfTheRings
Intra-Amazon product placement aside -- #synergy -- I think this is evidence for the Young Aragorn series. There's been speculation that the second tweet means Tom Bombadil will show up, but I think his inclusion is highly unlikely for a number of reasons and that the tweet is almost certainly referring to Aragorn and Frodo's departure at the end of PJ's Fellowship when he declines to take the Ring.

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Re: Lord of the Rings series!?

Post by yovargas »

If Amazon paid that much money in to tell a young Aragorn story because they can expect to capitalize on the popularity of lotr, well, I think they are extremely stupid.
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Re: Lord of the Rings series!?

Post by Eldy »

We know it's not going to be a remake of LOTR, a War in the North story, or based on The Silm, so I'm not sure what the alternative would be. :unsure: A series about the fall of Angmar with Eärnur of Gondor as the main protagonist? That's a far riskier gamble for a $1 billion investment. I would be intrigued by an Akallabêth or other Númenor movie, but not one where they can't draw on TS or UT. The same problem applies to the War of the Elves and Sauron. They couldn't even use the name "Annatar" unless there's been an unannounced second deal in the past five months.

I'm not saying that Young Aragorn isn't a safe and arguably boring choice, but the fact that Amazon's solution to finding "the next Game of Thrones", as Bezos directed, was to go back to the previous Game of Thrones before GOT strongly suggests (IMO) that boldness and originality are not their priorities here.

But I certainly could be wrong. :)
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Re: Lord of the Rings series!?

Post by Voronwë the Faithful »

You could certainly be wrong.

But I don't think you are. :)
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Re: Lord of the Rings series!?

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IAWV
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Re: Lord of the Rings series!?

Post by Frelga »

Yeah, that much money for what amounts to a bare outline of a story doesn't sound like a good investment. They might as well have gone with David Eddings.
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Re: Lord of the Rings series!?

Post by Anduril »

Movie universe? Meh. We've had like 6 of that.
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Re: Lord of the Rings series!?

Post by Voronwë the Faithful »

Otaku-Sempai at TORN notes that the article is now online:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live- ... ix-1099213
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Re: Lord of the Rings series!?

Post by Inanna »

So the article says they they also bought some rights to movie stuff - are we going to see made up Osgiliath stories?
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Re: Lord of the Rings series!?

Post by Alatar »

Its all up for grabs at this stage. Except the one thing we would really like. The Silmariallion.
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