“This will be the greatest television series ever made.” The highly anticipated fantasy series will cost a lot more than previous record-breaking estimates
Amazon Studios’ Under the spell of the Ring TV show is going to cost all the gold in Lonely Mountain.
The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that Amazon will spend approximately NZ $ 650 million – $ 465 million in US dollars – for the show’s first season.
That’s way above previous reported estimates that held the fantasy drama to an already record-breaking $ 500 million for multiple seasons of the show.
“What I can tell you is that Amazon is going to spend about $ 650 million in season one alone,” said Stuart Nash, New Zealand’s minister of economic development and tourism. Morning report. “This is fantastic, it is real … this is going to be the greatest television series ever made.”
The figures were released as part of the New Zealand government’s Official Information Act and reported initially by the New Zealand outlet StuffThe documents also confirmed that the studio’s plan is to film potentially five seasons in New Zealand – as good as possible, as-yet-unannounced spin-off series.
In comparison: HBOs Game of Thrones costs about $ 100 million to produce per season, with costs per episode starting from about $ 6 million for season one and eventually increasing to about $ 15 million per episode in season eight.
It is worth pointing out that the budget for the following seasons of LOTR could be much less than season one number. There are significant start-up costs involved in building a new fantasy world – such as sets, costumes, and props – that will presumably be used throughout the series.
Amazon’s spending will result in a tax credit of NZ $ 160 million ($ 114 million US). This is somewhat controversial in New Zealand, as the government can snag hundreds of millions of dollars to subsidize Amazon’s elves-and-hobbits drama series. Stuff reported that the country’s Treasury has called the show a “significant tax risk,” as there is no upper limit on how much Amazon – and therefore the government – could spend. But others point out that the increase in local spending by manufacturing plus the potential increase in tourism Lord of the Rings fans far outweigh the taxpayer-funded kickbacks.
Amazon acquired the rights to JRR Tolkien’s beloved Middle Earth franchise in 2017, and early on it was estimated that the show would eventually become the world’s first TV show costing $ 1 billion after accounting for the rights deal, production and multi-season marketing.
The official description: Under the spell of the Ring brings to screens for the first time the heroic legends of the storied second era of Middle-earth history. This epic drama takes place thousands of years before the events of JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit and Under the spell of the Ring, and will take viewers into an era when great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory and decayed, improbable heroes were tested, hopes hung on the finest threads, and the greatest villain to ever flow from Tolkien’s pen threatened to cover the whole world in darkness. The series begins in a time of relative peace and follows an ensemble of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared resurgence of evil in Middle-earth. From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains, to the majestic forests of the elf capital of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor, to the farthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live long after. They are gone.”
The show’s major cast includes Robert Aramayo (Game of Thrones), Owain Arthur (Kingdom), Nazanin Boniadi (Counterpart), Tom Budge (The Pacific ocean), Ismael Cruz Cordova (The catch), Ismael Cruz Cordova (Ray Donovan), Joseph Mawle (Game of Thrones) and many others. JD Payne and Patrick McKay (Star Trek 4) serve as showrunners in the series.
The series is currently in production for a scheduled debut later this year. Amazon Studios declined to comment.