Amazon has been known for throwing around their buyer power for a while now. Last week, it was revealed via CNBC that Amazon had spent a massive $11 billion on content for streaming and music services. It’s a lot of money and it’ll be interesting to see what will come from that spending.
Amazon spent $11 billion on content for its streaming video and music services last year, the company disclosed Thursday in its annual report, the latest sign of the company’s willingness to invest heavily in entertaining Prime members.
On Friday, we learned from The Hollywood Reporter that Lord of The Rings series is going to one of the most expensive shows. The streaming service is spending $465 million on just the first season on the fantasy prequel. There is an expectation with a five season commitment at Prime Video it could end up costing them $2.3 billion if the next four seasons have a similar price tag.
The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that Amazon will spend roughly NZ$650 million — $465 million in U.S. dollars — for just the first season of the show.
The show’s massive cast includes actors Robert Aramayo, Owain Arthur, Nazanin Boniadi, Tom Budge, Morfydd Clark, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Ema Horvath, Markella Kavenagh, Joseph Mawle, Tyroe Muhafidin, Sophia Nomvete, Megan Richards, Dylan Smith, Charlie Vickers, Daniel Weyman, Lenny Henry, Peter Mullan (Trainspotting, Children of Men), Lloyd Owen, Augustus Prew, Peter Tait, Benjamin Walker (Heart of The Sea, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter), Cynthia Addai-Robinson (Arrow, Power), Simon Merrells, Maxim Baldry, Ian Blackburn, Kip Chapman, Anthony Crum, Maxine Cunliffe, Trystan Gravelle, Thusitha Jayasundera, Fabian McCallum, Geoff Morrell, Alex Tarrant, Leon Wadham, and Sara Zwangobani.
Amazon Studios’ forthcoming series brings to screens for the very first time the heroic legends of the fabled Second Age of Middle-Earth’s history. This epic drama is set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Beginning in a time of relative peace, the series follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to 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 furthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone.
Filming is taking place in Auckland, New Zealand and is expected to continue to shoot there in follow-up seasons.
SOURCE: CNBC & THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
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