- Amazon founder Jeff Bezos chimed in on his firm’s “The Lord of the Rings” prequel airing Sept. 2.
- It is more likely to rake in main viewership numbers and, in flip, new subscribers.
- However Bezos informed Time “our hearts are in it” and that he hopes “we do Tolkien’s work justice.”
Amazon’s much-anticipated return to Center-earth is sort of upon us, and founder Jeff Bezos has chimed in on the $1 billion manufacturing.
In an in-depth characteristic Monday, Time journal detailed the corporate’s goliath “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Energy,” a prequel TV sequence set 3,000 years earlier than the favored J.R.R. Tolkien story we have held expensive for many years, notably due to Peter Jackson’s extremely common trilogy from the early 2000s.
It additionally touched on how the sequence is more likely to be an enormous subscription driver as viewers hand over money for Prime memberships to observe the beloved spinoff. Some followers have been voicing concern that that’s what the sequence is to Amazon: a mere money cow.
However Bezos informed Time that the venture goes past reaping financial advantages for the corporate.
“Center-earth is such a beloved world, and telling the story of the forging of the Rings of Energy is a privilege and a duty. I hope we do Tolkien’s work justice,” he informed the journal in an e-mail. “It goes past making a commercially profitable present. Everybody engaged on the present learn these tales as youngsters and our hearts are in it.”
Bezos has lengthy been a reported fan of all issues science fiction and fantasy — Selection reported in late 2017 that he was personally concerned in Amazon’s negotiations to develop a by-product of “The Lord of the Rings.” Bezos was additionally mentioned to have helped save “The Expanse,” a beloved SyFy channel present that was in peril of being shut down in 2018 and that’s now accessible on Prime Video.
Prime Video is Amazon’s prized stallion within the crowded streaming race with heavy hitters like Netflix, Disney+, and HBO Max additionally competing for eyeballs and month-to-month charges.
At this junction out there, a key technique is providing behemoth tentpole applications to entice new subscribers — or retain current ones.
For Netflix, that has been “Stranger Issues” and “Bridgerton,” simply to call a pair. For Disney+, that is been Marvel’s superhero extravaganzas like “Loki.”
And for Amazon’s Prime, viewers have eaten up exhibits like “The Marvelous Ms. Maisel” and “The Boys.” Its “Lord of the Rings” prequel will seemingly even be a major promoting level.
Netflix has lengthy been the reigning streamer however noticed a dip in subscriber development in Q1 for the primary time in over a decade. To assist compensate, the creators of “Stranger Issues” have a by-product within the works, a transfer a part of a broader plan to take the platform’s most profitable applications and increase upon them.
Nevertheless, Netflix has nonetheless appeared to have set an instance for what customers need in a streaming service — Amazon introduced a brand new, less-cluttered interface for Prime Video in July that appears rather a lot like Netflix.
“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Energy” premieres on Prime Video starting Sept. 2.
