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Making TV is no cheap endeavor these days; Netflix consistently shells out the cash for tentpole hits like House of Cards (approx $4.5 million an episode), the recently-cancelled Sense8 ($9 million an episode), and most recently, broke records after spending a hefty $130 million on the first season of royals drama The Crown. HBO is no stranger to spending, either; their Game of Thrones budget is notoriously high (Season 6 reportedly clocked in at some $100 million total). It makes perfect sense, then, that Amazon, who has been looking for their own Thrones, would be willing to throw any amount of cash necessary at the right project – and it seems they’ve found it.
Earlier this week, it was announced that Amazon had purchased the global rights to J.R.R. Tolkein’s hit fantasy series The Lord of the Rings for some $250 million and would be turning it into a television series. While this insane price tag bewildered many, it now seems that this amount is going to appear like chump change once the show actually goes into production. According to The Hollywood reporter, this potential five-season series (plus a potential spin-off) could end up going down in history as the most expensive television show ever made:
“Once production budgets, casting, writers, producers, and visual effects are factored in, the total for the Rings series — which will be set in Middle-earth and explore storylines preceding The Fellowship of the Ring — could hit $1 billion. Yes, $1 billion for a TV show.”
Amazon has certainly thrown cash in some questionable directions before (they reportedly paid some $80 million for Crisis in Six Scenes, their Woody Allen series that flopped), but this takes things to a whole new level. Whether or not the risk will be worth the reward remains to be seen.
