We didn’t really need another adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” — Peter Jackson already gave us three fantastic movies and even adapted “The Hobbit” into a trilogy. However, Amazon sees it differently, they believe their highly anticipated adaptation of the fantasy novels will be worthy of the money being shelled out.
The upcoming Prime Video series will cost Amazon more than previous record-breaking estimates. THR has confirmed that Amazon will spend roughly $465 million dollars for just the first season alone of the show. No other TV series has ever had a budget this high. By comparison, HBO spent an estimated $100 million per season of “Game of Thrones,” with a per-episode cost of around $15 million in season eight.
The figures were released as part of as part of the New Zealand government’s Official Information Act and initially reported via Stuff. The plan is to film five seasons in New Zealand — as well as a potential spinoff series. When all is said and done, It could cost Amazon upwards of $1 billion dollars.