If there is one thing for sure, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is bound to reach new heights being one of the most expensive series ever made but Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was quick to dismiss the thought that it is just about making money but rather, he says it is "a privilege and a responsibility."
Surely, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will have the revenue, that, in itself, is a fact. But for Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, producing the series is driven by a deeper purpose other than making money. He immediately pushed back that thought in an email exchange with Time.
Bezos, on the decision of Amazon Studios to produce The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, "Middle-earth is such a beloved world, and telling the story of the forging of the Rings of Power is a privilege and a responsibility."
Bezos added, "I hope we do Tolkien’s work justice. It goes beyond making a commercially successful show. Everyone working on the show read these stories as kids and our hearts are in it."
The showrunners, J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay also share the same sentiments with Bezos and they even rejected the claims of many that The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is "vaguely connected" to the original novels written by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Last year, Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke justified the $456 million price tag of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, "It is a crazy world and various people on this Zoom, mostly Bela [Bajaria of Netflix] and me, have been in bidding situations where it starts to go incredibly high."
Salke added, "As for how many people need to watch Lord of the Rings? A lot. (Laughs.) A giant, global audience needs to show up to it as appointment television, and we are pretty confident that that will happen."
Nearly half a billion dollars was put in just for Season 1 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. With the perspective of Bezos and the showrunners on it being more than just a cynical cash grab, they would still have to bring in the numbers to get back what they spent.
From the location, to the star-studded cast, there would surely be a hefty price tag for all those but if it lives up to its promise of quality, then it will be worth it.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power premieres on September 2, 2022 on Amazon Prime Video.
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