It hasn’t taken long for ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ to become Prime Video’s flagship series, but the truth is that Amazon’s offer to get hold of it was worse than Netflix’s. Why then didn’t the series end there? Well, because what they wanted to do scared the Tolkien Estate who fled the Netflix proposal like the plague.
This is how it ended up on Amazon
As an article in The Hollywood Reporter reveals, it was Netflix that offered 250 million dollars to get the rights which Amazon finally took. His idea was to turn Middle-earth into the new Marvel, with a series for Gandalf and for Aragorn, an idea that “horrified the Tolkien Estate“.
Let us remember that Tolkien’s son already harshly criticized the trilogy directed by Peter Jacksonso they had no interest in going back over that stage of Middle-earth. That was also what HBO wantedoffer a new version of the Third Age that would be a bit like a remake of the Jackson trilogy.
Instead, Amazon came to the attention of the Tolkien Estate with a more focused approach and the promise of being able to participate in the creative process to protect the legacy of the acclaimed writer. Vernon Sandersone of the great bosses of Amazon Studios, highlights that “it was our collective passion and allegiance to Tolkien that really won us over“.
Then came the process by which he was elected. Patrick McKay and JD Payne to get the series off the ground, but the really essential thing was to get hold of the rights and Amazon did it for a significantly lower price than the one offered by Netflix. It is said that they were several tens of millions less, so we would be talking about a minimum of 160 and a maximum of 230 million dollars. A savage as well.
In Espinof: