Amazon and WB discussing new LORD OF THE RINGS TV series

[Darth Richard II]

Ewwwwwwwww

[polishgenius]

52 minutes ago, Triskele said:

So, uh, Bezos is also interested in the rights to another big series.

Quote

The Three-Body Problem, is a sprawling, literary sci-fi epic.

(emphasis mine)


No.

[Darth Richard II]

Yeah I'm with you on that one.

[Mladen]

11 hours ago, Triskele said:

So, uh, Bezos is also interested in the rights to another big series.

OK, no... Bezos should just stop. Like, seriously stop. We all know that the greatest hits, the biggest success stories of movies and TV haven't happened because of money. They happened because of passion. That is what this lacks. He is like a collector who has no regard to the pieces. LOTR, WOT, etc. these stories need passion. I am afraid I don't see it. I just see someone with a lot of money wanting to expand its business. And as much as Hollywood is about money, it's also about something else. 

[Ran]

I am highly dubious of the sourcing of this story. Feels to me like people on the Chinese side are pumping this up to try and make a fait accompli happen. $1 billion is such an absurd figure that it's instantly an alarm that something not very credible is being floated by someone with an agenda.

[polishgenius]

1 hour ago, Risto said:

OK, no... Bezos should just stop. Like, seriously stop. We all know that the greatest hits, the biggest success stories of movies and TV haven't happened because of money. They happened because of passion. That is what this lacks. He is like a collector who has no regard to the pieces. LOTR, WOT, etc. these stories need passion. I am afraid I don't see it. I just see someone with a lot of money wanting to expand its business. And as much as Hollywood is about money, it's also about something else. 

To be fair, he doesn't need to have passion for the projects- he needs to find filmmakers that do.

[Corvinus85]

2 hours ago, Risto said:

OK, no... Bezos should just stop. Like, seriously stop. We all know that the greatest hits, the biggest success stories of movies and TV haven't happened because of money. They happened because of passion. That is what this lacks. He is like a collector who has no regard to the pieces. LOTR, WOT, etc. these stories need passion. I am afraid I don't see it. I just see someone with a lot of money wanting to expand its business. And as much as Hollywood is about money, it's also about something else. 

Bezos does have passion, too. He is a big LOTR fan, that's why he was personally involved in the negotiations for the rights. He is also a fan of numerous other fantasy stories. He may not have the passion of a filmmaker, but I think he has the passion of a fan. Like polishgenius said, now he needs to find the right people to make his dreams come true.

[Mladen]

1 hour ago, polishgenius said:

To be fair, he doesn't need to have passion for the projects- he needs to find filmmakers that do.

 

37 minutes ago, Corvinus said:

Bezos does have passion, too. He is a big LOTR fan, that's why he was personally involved in the negotiations for the rights. He is also a fan of numerous other fantasy stories. He may not have the passion of a filmmaker, but I think he has the passion of a fan. Like polishgenius said, now he needs to find the right people to make his dreams come true.

True, and you both have a point. I just hate how this has turned into story "he has money". Most of the time we speak about money. I really hate that. For me, LOTR adaptation should be, even in this phase, about something else. Not how much it costed.

[Ran]

36 minutes ago, Risto said:

 

True, and you both have a point. I just hate how this has turned into story "he has money". Most of the time we speak about money. I really hate that. For me, LOTR adaptation should be, even in this phase, about something else. Not how much it costed.

Trade websites like Variety, Deadline, Hollywood Reporter, and financial media like Financial Times, are going to focus on the business side of things. It's just the nature of what they do and who their audience is. They'll cover passion projects with the same focus on the details of cost, stars attached, studio outlooks, etc. as they would if they were summer tentpole blockbusters.

[polishgenius]

Also, at this point none of Bezos' big projects have creative teams yet so there isn't really anything to talk about except the finances.

[Darth Richard II]

5 hours ago, Ran said:

I am highly dubious of the sourcing of this story. Feels to me like people on the Chinese side are pumping this up to try and make a fait accompli happen. $1 billion is such an absurd figure that it's instantly an alarm that something not very credible is being floated by someone with an agenda.

Yeah that does sound like a bit much. o.O

[Ran]

6 hours ago, Triskele said:

I have no background whatsoever to make suggest the following, but does that series possibly represent an opportunity that would make that big $ figure less absurd because of the Chinese market potential?

Certainly, appealing to the Chinese and Asian market can be something Amazon is looking to do. That said, this $1 billion remains absurd. One of the biggest and most expensive TV dramas in China, Eternal Love, appears to have cost $50 million for 58 episodes -- slightly over $871k per episode, per this illuminating article which makes the Chinese market look very, very much like lawless territory (e.g. production companies get broadcast outlets to post fake ratings, actors so heavily over-booked that shows will use body doubles and green screen compositing for lack of being able to actually get all their performers on set at the same time, etc.) and makes me even more dubious of this idea.

I just don't see it making sense to anyone but the people in China trying to make bank on the rights. There's no way Amazon is considering forking over $1 billion, in whatever configuration (i.e. half for rights, half for production commitments), for The Three-Body Problem.

 

[The Marquis de Leech]

On 22/03/2018 at 2:53 AM, Vaughn said:

Side note - I would kind of love to watch an hour long 'documentary' just outlining the major movements and wars of the Simarillion like it was WW II or something. With maps, talking heads, infographics. 

Not sure that would necessarily work. Stuff like the Oath of Feanor or the Fingolfin-Morgoth duel can't be reduced to dry pseudo-History Channel analysis - it's grand myth.

(Though the idea of getting Maglor into the studio as a crusty old war veteran is vaguely amusing). 

[Vaughn]

58 minutes ago, Roose Boltons Pet Leech said:

Not sure that would necessarily work. Stuff like the Oath of Feanor or the Fingolfin-Morgoth duel can't be reduced to dry pseudo-History Channel analysis - it's grand myth.

(Though the idea of getting Maglor into the studio as a crusty old war veteran is vaguely amusing). 

 

I don't know, there's been many good documentaries about stuff like D-Day which are almost impossible in scale to comprehend.

Would also be interested in an alternative historical viewpoint which is just other Noldor talking crap about what jerks Feänor and his sons were and how they wrecked everything. 

[Ran]

1 hour ago, Roose Boltons Pet Leech said:

Not sure that would necessarily work. Stuff like the Oath of Feanor or the Fingolfin-Morgoth duel can't be reduced to dry pseudo-History Channel analysis - it's grand myth.

(Though the idea of getting Maglor into the studio as a crusty old war veteran is vaguely amusing). 

Given the amount of Biblical documentaries that are out there, I'd think that there'd surely be room for something in that style -- a narrator grandiosely presenting the grand narrative, scholarly experts weighing in on various aspects of the myth, artistic depictions alongside archaeologists at sites alleged to relate to the cycle (though as I recall, Beleriand was largely inundated at the end of the First Age, so I suppose it'd have to be archaeologists looking at remnants of LIndon), and so on.

It'd be even cooler if it was all just treated as if it were a genuine mythic cycle, with no reference to Tolkien as an inventor, LotR (except as history), etc.

Actually, I'm kind of amazed no fans have done this as of yet. Feels like it'd be ripe for a fan documentary.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

On 3/21/2018 at 9:53 AM, Vaughn said:

Side note - I would kind of love to watch an hour long 'documentary' just outlining the major movements and wars of the Simarillion like it was WW II or something. With maps, talking heads, infographics. 

That would be fun.

[Which Tyler]

4 hours ago, Ran said:

Given the amount of Biblical documentaries that are out there, I'd think that there'd surely be room for something in that style -- a narrator grandiosely presenting the grand narrative, scholarly experts weighing in on various aspects of the myth, artistic depictions alongside archaeologists at sites alleged to relate to the cycle (though as I recall, Beleriand was largely inundated at the end of the First Age, so I suppose it'd have to be archaeologists looking at remnants of LIndon), and so on.

It'd be even cooler if it was all just treated as if it were a genuine mythic cycle, with no reference to Tolkien as an inventor, LotR (except as history), etc.

Actually, I'm kind of amazed no fans have done this as of yet. Feels like it'd be ripe for a fan documentary.

I'm liking the idea, JRR could be mentioned likenthe chronicler, the earliest written record, like the Venerable Bede or Snorri Sturleson; or possibly the discoverer like Howard Carter.

 

I nominate Bettany Hughes as narrator, Simon Schama or Michael Wood if she rejects it. Or presenting an alternative take / walking through the "landscapes"

[Werthead]

8 hours ago, Ran said:

Given the amount of Biblical documentaries that are out there, I'd think that there'd surely be room for something in that style -- a narrator grandiosely presenting the grand narrative, scholarly experts weighing in on various aspects of the myth, artistic depictions alongside archaeologists at sites alleged to relate to the cycle (though as I recall, Beleriand was largely inundated at the end of the First Age, so I suppose it'd have to be archaeologists looking at remnants of LIndon), and so on.

It'd be even cooler if it was all just treated as if it were a genuine mythic cycle, with no reference to Tolkien as an inventor, LotR (except as history), etc.

Actually, I'm kind of amazed no fans have done this as of yet. Feels like it'd be ripe for a fan documentary.

The original Star Trek Axanar project was like that, it was talking heads with some pretty good actors (like Richard Hatch) playing the role of Klingons and Federation personnel present for the battle talking about it years later. That worked quite well.

As for the Three-Body Problem project, is it possible that it was 1 billion yuan they paid over, rather than $1 billion? That comes to around $160 million which is still a lot of money, but nothing like as insane.

[Ran]

1 billion yuan sounds much more likely, but would the Financial Times really make an error like that? The problem is that the FT article is behind a paywall, so I don't know what exactly it says, but all the articles citing it seem to take the $1 billion figure as accurate.

[Werthead]

23 hours ago, Ran said:

1 billion yuan sounds much more likely, but would the Financial Times really make an error like that? The problem is that the FT article is behind a paywall, so I don't know what exactly it says, but all the articles citing it seem to take the $1 billion figure as accurate.

I'm still trying to parse it. The LotR deal gets to $1 billion if it goes five full seasons. If there's only three seasons for TBP it shouldn't get close to that. Baffling.