In recent years, we no longer live only in the peak era of television, but right in the age of epic television. Series like Game of Thrones, Witcher or The Mandalorian they often offer almost as spectacular spectacle as film blockbusters. Now, however, it seems that the upcoming Amazon series from the world of The Lord of the Rings will take it to a whole new level. One episode could have the same budget as the series for the entire season.
The amount is expected to reach up to $ 465 million for the first of the series’ planned five series. New Zealand Radio RNZ to he said Minister for Economic Development and Tourism Stuart Nash. “It’s really fantastic. It will be the biggest TV series ever made, “ he added. Although it has long been clear that bringing the Lord of the Rings to television screens on an appropriate scale will be very expensive, in terms of about 10 billion crowns per line, it seems quite unbelievable.
The whole film trilogy The Lord of the Rings by Peter Jackson has an official budget of $ 281 million by comparison. Even if we add inflation to the twenty-year-old figure, the planned Amazon project still has a significant advantage. The first two films Avengers together they totaled 470 million. The situation is similar on television. In addition, a few years ago, the world was stunned by HBO, when for the last six-part series Games of Thrones paid $ 90 million, an average of $ 15 million per episode.
Foggy mountains as they appeared in the trilogy The Hobbit
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A more detailed budgeting and comparison will still show that the budget is serial The Lord of the Rings, although certainly unprecedented, is not so far removed from today’s standards of “epic television.” The costs of the first row include many elements such as the set, costumes and props, which will also be used in the following ones. The opening season is to have 20 episodes, which, given the budget, would mean around $ 23 million per share.
That’s still a huge number, from The Lord of the Rings but it doesn’t automatically make by far the most expensive series of all time. The Pacific, HBO’s ten-part war miniseries of 2010 cost a total of $ 200 million (an average of $ 20 million a share excluding inflation). Disney’s works can easily compete for the title of the most expensive television projects. As early as 2019, there were reports for the first time that the studio was willing to provide series creators from the Avengers world with up to 25 million per episode.
Nevertheless, the Amazon series will undoubtedly secure the status of the most expensive series in the series so far. After offsetting the $ 250 million the company paid to Tolkien’s property management for copyright and advertising costs, it will not have Lord of the Rings the slightest problem is becoming the first television project with a total price tag of over a billion dollars. From the point of view of the budget, it thus fully corresponds to the epic scale of its theme and its cultural heritage.
Thousands of years before the trilogy
But what is the series about? First of all, of course, it will not be any form of remake, but the processing of the hitherto uncovered Second Age of Middle-earth. According to the official synopsis, the main storyline is set to take place a few thousand years before Jackson’s film trilogy i Hobitem. “The spectators will be able to go back to an era when great power was established, the kingdom flourished and fell. And the whole world was threatened by the greatest villain ever from Tolkien’s pen. “ writes Amazon.
We are talking about Sauron, his lord Morgoth and the events outlined in the film’s prologue. The Lord of the Rings. Some well-known characters of elves or wizards have to return. There will be a lot of new ones. Known information about the project we summarized last year, however, in the last few months, there have been reports of twenty other actors appearing in Middle-earth. These include Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Maxim Baldry, Peter Mullan, Augustus Prew, Sara Zwangobani and others.
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Elven King Thranduil
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In addition to reuniting with some of the characters, we will also visit famous places, although probably in another form, thousands of years younger. Serial Lord of the Rings it should take place, for example, in the Mist Mountains, Númenor, or the elven kingdom of Lindon. Much of the filming takes place both in New Zealand and directly behind the scenes created for Jackson’s films.
It was originally planned to be the first row The Lord of the Rings a coronavirus pandemic will arrive on Amazon’s screens this year, as it has everywhere else on the island country. Production therefore had to be suspended at the beginning of 2020. Magazine The Hollywood Reporter but finally last December confirmed ongoing shooting. There is currently no official premiere date.
But it is almost certain that the series will have at least five lines with a potential spin-off. The showrunners and lead screenwriters are brothers JD Payne and Patrick McKay (Star Trek: To the unknown), whereas Lord of the Rings it will be only the second big project for them. More experienced is the director of the first two parts of JA Bayon, known mainly for his films Orphanage a Jurassic World: The End of the Empire. The second announced director is Wayne Yip with extensive television experience.
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