Amazon’s new ‘Lord Of The Rings’ TV series could cost half a billion dollars

It looks like the budget for Amazon’s brand new television series based on the The Lord of the Rings novels is going to be pretty huge.

It was first reported last year that Warner Bros. Television and the estate of author J.R.R. Tolkien were holding discussions about a deal with Amazon Studios to develop the project.

Reuters has now revealed that Amazon had offered $250 million for the rights alone.

Apparently production and marketing “could raise costs to $500 million or more for two seasons.”

If true, the series would cost triple what Amazon paid for the first two seasons of The Man in the High Castle.

It remains unclear if the TV series will be a retelling of the story that was so successfully told in director Peter Jackson’s movie trilogy or if it will instead focus on different stories and characters in that world.

The complete The Lord of the Rings trilogy box set is available to buy on DVD now.

A new movie about the life of J.R.R. Tolkien began filming last November, starring Nicholas Hoult.