Amazon Prime Video played a very powerful, but also quite risky, card with “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.” Reclaiming JRR Tolkien’s universe with a television series is a sure-fire value, but they also had to spend $ 465 million between the purchase of the rights and the production. It is the most expensive series in history, and while it has rave professional reviews, it is not without controversy or “review bombing”. With Amazon busy making five seasons, they needed audiences to respond and do it en masse..
At least the first they attended. The company revealed that 25 million viewers watched the first two episodes of the Patrick McKay and JD Payne series. They say it’s the best premiere in Amazon Prime Video history. That’s a spectacular figure, no doubt, but since it’s the first time Amazon has revealed audience figures for its series or movies, it’s impossible to make a comparison. For example, how much did the third season of an established series like “The Boys” cost on its first day? They also don’t specify how those 25 million users have seen the full chapters or if they’ve only watched a few minutes and already count as viewers. Unfortunately we will have to wait for companies like Nielsen to publish their measurements, and even then they will always be estimates.
It is also difficult to make comparisons with series from other platforms because none are particularly transparent with their figures, except for Netflix. For instance, we know that “The House of the Dragon” got 10.2 million admissions at its premiere in the United States, becoming the best debut in HBO history. Globally they have not published data, but they are not distributed in the 240 countries where there is access to Amazon Prime Video.
We’re back to shooting very soon
Regardless, it’s still a spectacular start to the “Lord of the Rings” series, and that’s just the beginning. The second season of “The Rings of Power” is confirmed and, As showrunners recently confirmed to Radio Times, filming will begin “a couple of weeks”. This time it won’t be in New Zealand, but they have moved production to the UK.
Source: E Cartelera
