Tag: Amazon Middle-earth TV series; Amazon Lord of the Rings series
Hobbits are now owned by Amazon, joining all-encompassing TV rights to The Lord of the Rings book and appendices rights.
The Hobbit films were produced by Warner Bros from rights owned by MGM. img: YouTube
It’s official: Amazon has acquired MGM Studios, including the longtime film and TV rights to The Hobbit and characters related. Within hours, CEO Jeff Bezos announced he is stepping down in July and moving to Hollywood to play with his major studio, of which the crown jewel is The Lord of the Rings.
What this means is that @LOTRonPrime can put Hobbits in their Second Age show, since rights to that class of characters were held by MGM. ‘But timelines,’ you say! Time is just a construct. Amazon needs an Everyman entry point for casual viewers: Hobbits are that. There have been rumors that Harfoots are in the show, a book-sourced compromise from the troublesome Hobbit rights. Amazon can now change all the dialogue in reshoots to call them Hobbits; casual fans will want that familiarity.
Remember the crushing drama of rights issues with MGM on The Hobbit, which caused Guillermo del Toro perhaps the greatest professional loss of his career? Amazon has just resolved all that for the future.
Amazon has full TV rights to The Lord of the Rings full stop – anything mentioned in the books and appendices. Now they have all the rights MGM previously held, from its 45 year old Saul Zaentz deal. Amazon chose not to remake The Lord of the Rings, instead exploring many different options, before settling on Numenor and the Second Age.
Owning MGM means, of course, that Amazon COULD remake The Hobbit into a limited series or a cartoon; many things are possible. All kinds of round doors are now open…
Amazon officially announces new director for its Lord of the Rings TV series and the cast immediately celebrated online.
Director Charlotte Brändström on set for Lord of the Rings in New Zealand
Accomplished director Charlotte Brändström, who worked with Amazon’s Man in the High Castle as well as Netflix’s Jupiter Ascending and The Witcher, is the latest addition to the large cast and crew of this huge Second Age show. Actor Nazanin Boniadi, who has a lead role in LOTR, posted, “I can’t think of anyone better to break ground as the first woman director to ever helm Tolkien.”
Quite simply, she. is. AMAZING! Nothing short of a creative genius.
LOTR actor Sophia Nomvete on director Charlotte Brändström
Maze Runner actor Dylan Smith, who is rumored to play a major dwarf character, adds on social “A truly talented director!” While major star-in-the-wings Ismael Cruz Cordova says Brändström is a “A Powerhouse.”
Amazon’s Lord of the Rings TV show is currently shooting in New Zealand, with over 200 cast and crew members allowed into the country during quarantine. Brändström is a TV veteran based in LA, and hails from Sweden & France.
Head of Amazon Studios says the high budgets are for assets to be leveraged over many seasons.
Hollywood Reporter published a roundtable discussion with several studio heads, including Amazon’s Jennifer Salke; and of course the conversation turned to LORD OF THE RINGS, which is the biggest budgeted TV series in history. “This is a full season of a huge world-building show. The number is a sexy headline or a crazy headline that’s fun to click on, but that is really building the infrastructure of what will sustain the whole series.”
A day later, Amazon announced that director Wayne Yip is the newest Executive Producer of LOTR, making a baker’s dozen of 13 E.P.’s in charge; and confirmed the recent rumor of the first woman to direct for Middle-earth with Charlotte Brändström joining the production, who seems fully on board:
“I’m very excited to be guided through Middle-earth by JD’s and Patrick’s vision.”
Charlotte Brändström, LOTR Season 1 Director
Global, Global, Global
It’s no secret Amazon wants LOTR to be a global show; and they shouldn’t have to worry, since JRR Tolkien’s LORD OF THE RINGS is the worldwide best selling fictional book of the 20th century, and is still considered one of the biggest selling fantasy books in every one of the 38 languages it’s published in. New Line and WB’s Middle-earth films set international sales records, and LOTR is still the most awarded film series in history across the globe.
Amazon’s Salke reinforced her global mandate multiple times, saying, “I’m so grateful to be in the position to drive this part of our business globally… A giant, global audience needs to show up to it as appointment television, and we are pretty confident that that will happen… It’s a global storytelling world, and these companies better get on board because it’s already late.”
LOTR has always been global in nature, but this being Amazon the real global reason is simple. “As for how many people need to watch Lord of the Rings? A lot. (laughs)” says Jennifer Salke. As head of Amazon Studios reporting to Jeff Bezos, there’s probably a constant conversation about metrics. But what makes a global show now may differ from what came before, with Salke adding, “The more diverse the cast, the better; the more diverse and authentic the storytelling, the better.”
For context on the 13 E.P.’s on Amazon’s show, New Line Cinema’s Lord of the Rings had only one active Executive Producer in Mark Ordesky, with the other 4 E.P. credits going to studio heads. This could be seen as a singular visionary in charge, just as there was a singular visionary director for all the films; and just as J.R.R. Tolkien was the singular visionary who never collaborated in crafting Middle-earth.
Deadline reports The Witcher alumn is responsible for two episodes of the billion dollar series.
Amazon continues to pull from its bench of creatives as director Charlotte Brändström joins the LORD OF THE RINGS TV series. The accomplished director previously worked on Amazon’s Man in the High Castle, and more recently worked on Netflix’s two fantasy series The Witcher and Jupiter’s Legacy. Interestingly, most of her TV work is limited to two episodes per show, and the current rumors from @FansFellowship (who first reported her hiring) indicate she is working on the last two episodes of the first season of LOTR.
Brändström is the first female Middle-earth director to hold the full title, following in the legacy of Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, who helped Peter Jackson direct some key scenes in his LOTR series (uncredited). She is based in Los Angeles as a graduate of the AFI film program, and speaks 4 languages: French, Swedish, English and Spanish, the latter to be very helpful as a collaborator with Spanish director JA Bayona, who is setting the tone for the entire series. She is currently in New Zealand directing the key episodes to close out the first season. Amazon has already committed to 5 seasons minimum, with S2 and S3 already in pre-production.
Chinese The Lord of the Rings Trilogy fans were highly anticipating this past weekend as Peter Jackson’s ‘The Fellowship of the Ring‘ was due to re-release nationwide – in glorious remastered 4k.
Unfortunately, due to the last second approval by government officials, many Chinese venues did not get the print in time and screenings had to be canceled. Here’s the wrap up from The Hollywood Reporter:
It was another bizarro weekend at the Chinese box office.
The long-anticipated return of Peter Jackson’s The Fellowship of the Ring finally arrived Friday in vividly remastered 4K. But official permission for the rerelease from China’s regulators came so late — just one full day in advance — that marketing for the movie was mostly nonexistent and scores of digital prints failed to reach cinemas on time, forcing a wave of cancelations and refunds to angry customers throughout Friday and into Saturday.
The article continues…
The Fellowship of the Ring, meanwhile, limped into fifth place with just $4.1 million. The opening results for the fantasy classic are a keen disappointment compared to the recent performance of James Cameron’s Avatar, which opened to $23.7 million when it was rereleased in China in March. The perennial appeal of the Lord of the Rings franchise could help Fellowship mount a healthy hold though, much as Avatar did (Cameron’s film has climbed to $60.2 million in second-run sales). Warner Bros. also will get a do-over later this month — assuming all goes to plan (always a big “if” in China) — when Jackson’s The Two Towers re-releases on April 23. Regulators have indicated that the franchise closer The Return of the King will also get a second run in China, but the film — worryingly — still hasn’t been given an official release date.
Amazon will get an additional 5% from more New Zealand’s Screen Production Grant, Reuters reports today.
(Reuters) New Zealand said on Friday it has agreed to give Amazon (AMZN.O) extra rebates on its expenses for the filming of “The Lord of the Rings” TV series in the country, hoping to reap multi-year economic and tourism benefits.
Amazon will get an extra 5% from New Zealand’s Screen Production Grant in addition to the 20% grant the production already qualifies for, the government said in a statement.
Amazon is estimated to be spending about NZ$650 million ($465 million) filming the first season of the show, for broadcast on its Amazon Prime streaming platform, meaning it would be eligible for a rebate of about NZ$162 million ($116 million), the government said.
“The agreement with Amazon … generates local jobs and creates work for local businesses,” Economic and Regional Development Minister Stuart Nash said in a statement. “It will enable a new wave of international tourism branding and promotion for this country.”
The first season entered production in Auckland last year with more than 1,200 people employed. Approximately 700 workers are indirectly employed by providing services to the production, the government said.
U.S.-based Amazon media officials weren’t immediately available for comment outside regular U.S. business hours.
