Who could ever forget the big-screen adaptation of "The Lord of the Rings" film series? The trilogy directed by Peter Jackson became one of the highest-grossing movies in history, raking in an estimated $2.8 billion worldwide.
It has been years since its last film, "The Return of the King," titillated audiences on the big screen. Now, Amazon is set to make a TV series for "The Lord of the Rings".
The series is already pegged to be the most expensive series of all time, with a budget of $1 billion, which dwarfs the expense to create Netflix's hugely popular series "The Crown", which cost around £100 million.
The multi-season order for the series was confirmed last November. Netflix was defeated in the $250 million rights deal by the Tolkien estate, publisher HarperCollins and New Line Cinema.
The show must begin production within two years, and the story will focus on the events before "The Fellowship of the Ring", and so will act as a type of prequel to the movies.
Greenberg Glusker attorney Matt Galsor, who served as the chief architect of the deal and representative for the Tolkien estate, said that the TV series is the most "complicated" deal he has ever seen, but he is thankful it was "handled relatively quickly, in a way that brought the parties together in a close relationship. It was tough, but everybody liked each other and felt like a team more as the deal closed."
It remains to be seen whether Jackson will be involved in any capacity in the TV show, but his lawyer Peter Nelson said a dialogue has already been opened.
"We are in an era where streamers are bidding up the price of programming. I think Amazon is taking a page out of the studios' emphasis on franchises," he said. "They also are realizing that with the overproduction of television, you need to get the eyeballs to the screen, and you can do that with franchise titles."
