Amazon In Talks To Develop Lord Of The Rings TV Adaptation
If you thought a full trilogy of Lord of the Rings movies, followed by a Hobbit trilogy, was enough page-to-screen adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien's universe, you were wrong. Get ready for even more Frodo Baggins. Amazon Studios is reportedly in talks to land the rights to adapt Lord of the Rings into a new TV series, with a goal of replicating the success of HBO's immensely popular Game of Thrones.
Amazon's discussions are said to be in the "very early stages" with Warner Bros. Television and the Tolkien estate, reports Variety and Deadline, with non other than CEO Jeff Bezos getting personally involved in the negotiations. There's still no word on when a deal might be reached, so we're likely still a few years away from the show actually getting made.
Apparently the Tolkien estate has set a price of $200-250 million for TV rights to LotR, with Netflix and HBO also being approached. The latter has reportedly passed, and it's not clear how interested Netflix is, so Amazon appears to be the most eager to make a deal for the project.
Earlier this year Bezos is said to have tasked Amazon Studios with finding the next big drama to draw in a global audience, similar to Game of Thrones' appeal. As another fantasy and adventure series, LotR could be a perfect fit, especially seeing as how popular the books are, in addition to the numerous adaptations.