Amazon and Warner Bros. Television are currently in talks for a series based on J.R.R. Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings, Variety reports.
WB and the Tolkein are shopping the property with Amazon emerging as the frontrunner. No deal has been made, but Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos is involved in negotiations with WB TV and the estate of late LOTR author, J.R.R. Tolkein, an unusual procedure, which might convey how serious Amazon is about closing this deal.
Lord of the Rings was a huge franchise cash-cow for Warner Bros. in the 2000s due to Peter Jackson boundary-pushing filmmaking. The franchise had lost momentum when Jackson had returned for the prequel movie series The Hobbit. Behind the scenes, this success of the brand had led to a dispute between Warner Bros. and Tolkein Estate in 2012, which has reached more amicable grounds, if a deal like this is currently being considered.
For Tolkein fans, this prospect of getting Lord of the Rings as a streaming series might prove to be a double-edged sword. On one hand, the longer form of storytelling will allow for more authentic retelling of novels. The budget and production values for this series may be much lower than the movie. The question is: if this series looks on par with Jackson’s now-dated movies, will fans object?
Amazon may score a big win if it does land the series; something like Lord of the Rings may net hordes of new subscribers from all over the world.
