The first season of ‘The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power’ was, without a doubt, the most daring bet that Amazon made in the entire career of Prime Video. It licensed the rights to one of the most beloved and widely read fantasy franchises of all time and put forward its own vision, one that distanced itself in part from the canon of Tolkien’s novels and Peter Jackson’s films that reside in the collective imagination.
More than 700 million all or nothing. The financial investment made by Amazon was unprecedented: as we know, Netflix was willing to pay $250 million just for the rights, but its Marvel-style approach did not convince Tolkien’s heirs, who gave up the rights to Amazon for slightly less. The expenses had only just begun: Prime Video ended up investing $465 million in the development of this first season, plus what the rights cost.
How many people saw it. Although the usual secrecy surrounding Amazon’s audience figures prevented us from having more specific figures, Amazon announced after the premiere of the first episode that 25 million people watched the series on its first day. A VarietyAmazon Studios boss Jennifer Salke said, when the first season had passed its halfway point, that they were already approaching one hundred million viewers, with expectations that it would grow.
An unofficial point of view. Data analysts such as the company Parrots Analytics measured the demand for the series according to the impact on social networks or the number of downloads, and the result of these studies was indisputably positive: ‘The Rings of Power’ had 30.5 times more demand than the average American series in its first month of life. The same calculations put it below, however, its most direct competitor, ‘House of the Dragon’, which was estimated to have twice as many viewers. In other words, comparatively speaking, it can be criticized, but the overall balance is positive.
Poor reception. None of this possibly makes up for the bad reputation the series has among the most recalcitrant fandom. On rating aggregator websites such as Rotten Tomatoes there are spectacular discrepancies between the opinion of critics and the public and Amazon has even slipped into this terrain with some inappropriate decisions, such as when it deleted exaggeratedly low scores from rating aggregators owned by it, such as IMDB or the Prime Video platform itself. In its words (and not without reason, we already know how fans work), to avoid the review bombing.
What changes in the second season. Less things than they seem, on paper. John D. Payne and Patrick McKay repeat as showrunnerswhich counts as a revalidation of what they proposed in the first season. It is true that on more than one occasion They have declared that the roadmap was set from the beginning and for five seasons, so it is reasonable to think that, despite the many negative reviews Amazon has received, if the audience figures have been minimally satisfactory, they will continue close to what was planned.
More Sauron. From the start of the first episodes of the second season, it’s clear who the second season will be about (at least): Sauron was little more than a riddle in the first season, but in this one, with his identity now revealed, it’s clear that we’ll learn more about his origins. This was already done with Galadriel, and if the experiment with Sauron is repeated and Tolkien’s canon is maintained, we’ll see the appearance of Morgoth and other deities and settings that are unusual in adaptations of Middle Earth. Which will undoubtedly be a refreshing change for a change.
Bad times for streaming. For a few months now we have been contemplating how the platforms of streaming They are increasingly reducing their spending policies. Apple, after a series of failures in cinemas, is leaving the new releases directly to its platform (and we will probably stop seeing productions worth two hundred million). Max, which has been making cuts for over a year, licenses its content at its discretion to the rest of the platforms. Netflix may be the winner of the streaming war, but its customers are not free from restrictions on account sharing and noticeable price increases in rates.
Go Amazon. The impression that the viewer may have of Prime Video’s finances is that Amazon provides it with an endless stream of cash to finance very expensive series that don’t quite gel, such as ‘Citadel’, one of the most notorious failures of recent months. ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ is not in such a desperate situation because, as we have seen, it remains firm in its proposal, and from what we know, so far the audiences have been good and bad. But no company can afford to throw away 700 million dollars a year.
Amazon’s business. Remember that Amazon is not here to bring us unforgettable stories, but to make its core business work: the online store. From that point of view, Prime Video is the best (and most expensive) possible promotion for its Amazon Prime subscription service, which is what Prime Video viewers actually pay for. Jeff Bezos’ business came in thanks to strategies like this $574 billion in 2023so for the moment it cannot be said that it is a bad plan. Although for certain purposes, not even Tolkien is infallible.
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At Xataka | All the events of ‘The Lord of the Rings’, through an interactive map of Middle Earth
