‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ in figures: a large budget and nearly 100 million viewers

‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ has not ceased to amaze with its figures from the hand of exorbitant estimates that now find a more solid basis thanks to the data offered by Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios. 700 million have so far released the aforementioned house for one of its flagship productsfiction that competes with “The house of the dragon” in terms of audience.

Salke, in an interview with Variety, takes stock of what the premiere of one of Amazon Studios’ most ambitious projects has meant to date, a television version of JRR Tolkien’s work that has already begun its journey with a generous investment . 250 million cost in 2017 only the rights to adapt this work, an agreement that would go through the planning of production of five seasons. This would cost approx 450 million for the development of season 1, which premieres its seventh episode on October 7 on Prime Video. Of course, as Salke points out, that exorbitant budget would go hand in hand with a solid start it would aspire to establish a production that could then consider cutting the economic drainage.

“We built a small town because we are building an infrastructure that will serve us for five seasons. We always spent what it took to get it right. I am fortunate to work in a company where we want to be financially disciplined, without compromising the visual aspect of the series. I think it was all very well spent money. Also the public reaction to the experience of watching the series was extremely positive”.

Along the same optimistic line, this executive mentions the audience success of “The Rings of Power” so far, stating that, a month after the premiere of the first episode, the figures are spectacularly good. “We’re reaching 100 million viewers, so … that’s a huge number.”. We can’t wait for more information on how audiences break up, but we really expected a very good reception for the last three episodes because curiosity would peak and those episodes are the strongest of the season. “

No expense spared

“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” isn’t the only project that requires a generous outlay of money for Amazon Studios. even in this house ‘Citadel’ is cooked, a series that Salke herself describes as an ‘experiment’. Led by Priyanka Chopra and Richard Madden, this production is “atypical” for its basic concept: a series from which several local spin-offs would come out at the same time to complete the plot / content, developing stories from each territory. Yes, it’s as ambitious as it sounds.

“The local language and the regional series are very important to us. We are investing heavily in the ‘Citadel’ of the Russo Brothers, a great [thriller de espías] global of which we have already been able to see the first three episodes. The idea behind this series is to launch a global narrative with independent local series that feed the stories and complement the details on specific characters.. There is a series set in India with a big star and showrunners working under the umbrella of the “Citadel” to fill in the details of Priyanka Chopra’s character. In Italy we are doing the same, and there is another in Mexico. […] We are experiencing such things”.

‘Citadel’ is part of a complicated plan that has already suffered ups and downs with the confrontation between its creative team and the subsequent departure of two of its showrunners, this, along with a generous initial outlay, would entail the rivalry between this proposal and ‘The Rings of Power’ for the most expensive series seat in history.