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Post by hardball on Nov 5, 2017 3:03:23 GMT
Warner Bros. Television and the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien are in talks with Amazon Studios to develop a series based on the late author’s “The Lord of the Rings” novels. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is said by sources with knowledge of the situation to be personally involved in the negotiations, which are still in very early stages. No deal has been set. The studio and the Tolkien estate have been shopping a series based on the classic fantasy novels and their assortment of hobbits, wizards, and warriors, sparking a competitive situation from which Amazon has emerged as the frontrunner. Representatives for Amazon and Warner Bros. declined to comment. It is uncommon for Bezos — known to be a fan of high fantasy and science fiction — to involve himself personally in dealmaking for Amazon Studios. But talks for “The Lord of the Rings” come at an uncommon moment for the e-commerce giant’s video-entertainment division. Last month Amazon Studios flushed its executive ranks, with president Roy Price, head of scripted Joe Lewis, and head of unscripted Conrad Riggs all departing. Price’s departure came just days after he was suspended on the heels of a sexual harassment allegation made against him by a producer on the company’s original series “The Man in the High Castle.” Lewis and Riggs’ departures followed a week later. But the pursuit of “The Lord of the Rings” is in line with a new programming mandate dictated this year by Bezos, who, months before Price departed, ordered him to shift Amazon Studios away from niche, naturalistic series such as “Transparent” and “Mozart in the Jungle” and toward large-scale genre programming with potential for broad international appeal. As part of that shift, Amazon canceled two series, “Z: The Beginning of Everything” and “The Last Tycoon,” and began shifting resources away from Lewis’ development team and to a unit led by event-series exec Sharon Tal Yguado. With Lewis’ departure, Tal Yguado was named head of scripted series, reporting to Price’s interim replacement, Amazon Studios COO Albert Cheng. The fact that a “Lord of the Rings” series is being shopped by Warner Bros. marks a thaw in the relationship between the studio and the Tolkien estate, which in July settled a massive lawsuit that had dragged on since 2012. The dispute, with Tolkien’s heirs and publisher HarperCollins on one side and Warner Bros. — which produced director Peter Jackon’s live-action feature film adaptations of “The Lord of the Rings” and its prequel, “The Hobbit” — on the other, stemmed from the use characters from the movies in online slot machines and other games. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed, but a legal filing stated that no fees or costs were to be awarded by the court and that no party was entitled to recover fees or costs. variety.com/2017/tv/news/lord-of-the-rings-amazon-1202606519/ |
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Post by hi224 on Nov 5, 2017 6:38:39 GMT
Warner Bros. Television and the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien are in talks with Amazon Studios to develop a series based on the late author’s “The Lord of the Rings” novels. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is said by sources with knowledge of the situation to be personally involved in the negotiations, which are still in very early stages. No deal has been set. The studio and the Tolkien estate have been shopping a series based on the classic fantasy novels and their assortment of hobbits, wizards, and warriors, sparking a competitive situation from which Amazon has emerged as the frontrunner. Representatives for Amazon and Warner Bros. declined to comment. It is uncommon for Bezos — known to be a fan of high fantasy and science fiction — to involve himself personally in dealmaking for Amazon Studios. But talks for “The Lord of the Rings” come at an uncommon moment for the e-commerce giant’s video-entertainment division. Last month Amazon Studios flushed its executive ranks, with president Roy Price, head of scripted Joe Lewis, and head of unscripted Conrad Riggs all departing. Price’s departure came just days after he was suspended on the heels of a sexual harassment allegation made against him by a producer on the company’s original series “The Man in the High Castle.” Lewis and Riggs’ departures followed a week later. But the pursuit of “The Lord of the Rings” is in line with a new programming mandate dictated this year by Bezos, who, months before Price departed, ordered him to shift Amazon Studios away from niche, naturalistic series such as “Transparent” and “Mozart in the Jungle” and toward large-scale genre programming with potential for broad international appeal. As part of that shift, Amazon canceled two series, “Z: The Beginning of Everything” and “The Last Tycoon,” and began shifting resources away from Lewis’ development team and to a unit led by event-series exec Sharon Tal Yguado. With Lewis’ departure, Tal Yguado was named head of scripted series, reporting to Price’s interim replacement, Amazon Studios COO Albert Cheng. The fact that a “Lord of the Rings” series is being shopped by Warner Bros. marks a thaw in the relationship between the studio and the Tolkien estate, which in July settled a massive lawsuit that had dragged on since 2012. The dispute, with Tolkien’s heirs and publisher HarperCollins on one side and Warner Bros. — which produced director Peter Jackon’s live-action feature film adaptations of “The Lord of the Rings” and its prequel, “The Hobbit” — on the other, stemmed from the use characters from the movies in online slot machines and other games. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed, but a legal filing stated that no fees or costs were to be awarded by the court and that no party was entitled to recover fees or costs. variety.com/2017/tv/news/lord-of-the-rings-amazon-1202606519/ im not big on this whole idea. |
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Post by hardball on Nov 5, 2017 7:58:08 GMT
It just seems too soon. And the money being demanded for the rights is steep.
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Post by hi224 on Nov 5, 2017 8:28:18 GMT
It just seems too soon. And the money being demanded for the rights is steep. Furthermore it irks me how every network is starting to jump on fantasy projects because they want a game of thrones ugh. |
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Post by Pangolin on Nov 5, 2017 20:49:36 GMT
It just seems too soon. And the money being demanded for the rights is steep. Furthermore it irks me how every network is starting to jump on fantasy projects because they want a game of thrones ugh. Reminds me to the situation after the big success of the LotR movie trilogy - there were also many, who thought they could produce something similar and make big money with it, but in the end there was hardly any box office hit of that genre (more or less Fantasy of the Sword and Sorcery kind) besides the first of these Narnia movies. |
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Post by hi224 on Nov 5, 2017 20:53:24 GMT
Furthermore it irks me how every network is starting to jump on fantasy projects because they want a game of thrones ugh. Reminds me to the situation after the big success of the LotR movie trilogy - there were also many, who thought they could produce something similar and make big money with it, but in the end there was hardly any box office hit of that genre (more or less Fantasy of the Sword and Sorcery kind) besides the first of these Narnia movies. yep, golden compass and Narnia, there where a few more as well. |
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DarkManX
Junior Member
@shadowrun
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Post by DarkManX on Nov 6, 2017 0:37:43 GMT
I see so many shows advertised as "It's (insert show here) meets Game of Thrones!" It's why I didn't watch The Expanse on SyFy.
Aside from being more accurate to the books I'm not sure what they could really add to it. Plus there are many more LOTR novels that I'm sure Peter Jackson is eager to over bloat into a trilogy of three hour long films.
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Post by Morgana on Nov 6, 2017 12:28:17 GMT
Warner Bros. Television and the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien are in talks with Amazon Studios to develop a series based on the late author’s “The Lord of the Rings” novels. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is said by sources with knowledge of the situation to be personally involved in the negotiations, which are still in very early stages. No deal has been set. The studio and the Tolkien estate have been shopping a series based on the classic fantasy novels and their assortment of hobbits, wizards, and warriors, sparking a competitive situation from which Amazon has emerged as the frontrunner. Representatives for Amazon and Warner Bros. declined to comment. It is uncommon for Bezos — known to be a fan of high fantasy and science fiction — to involve himself personally in dealmaking for Amazon Studios. But talks for “The Lord of the Rings” come at an uncommon moment for the e-commerce giant’s video-entertainment division. Last month Amazon Studios flushed its executive ranks, with president Roy Price, head of scripted Joe Lewis, and head of unscripted Conrad Riggs all departing. Price’s departure came just days after he was suspended on the heels of a sexual harassment allegation made against him by a producer on the company’s original series “The Man in the High Castle.” Lewis and Riggs’ departures followed a week later. But the pursuit of “The Lord of the Rings” is in line with a new programming mandate dictated this year by Bezos, who, months before Price departed, ordered him to shift Amazon Studios away from niche, naturalistic series such as “Transparent” and “Mozart in the Jungle” and toward large-scale genre programming with potential for broad international appeal. As part of that shift, Amazon canceled two series, “Z: The Beginning of Everything” and “The Last Tycoon,” and began shifting resources away from Lewis’ development team and to a unit led by event-series exec Sharon Tal Yguado. With Lewis’ departure, Tal Yguado was named head of scripted series, reporting to Price’s interim replacement, Amazon Studios COO Albert Cheng. The fact that a “Lord of the Rings” series is being shopped by Warner Bros. marks a thaw in the relationship between the studio and the Tolkien estate, which in July settled a massive lawsuit that had dragged on since 2012. The dispute, with Tolkien’s heirs and publisher HarperCollins on one side and Warner Bros. — which produced director Peter Jackon’s live-action feature film adaptations of “The Lord of the Rings” and its prequel, “The Hobbit” — on the other, stemmed from the use characters from the movies in online slot machines and other games. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed, but a legal filing stated that no fees or costs were to be awarded by the court and that no party was entitled to recover fees or costs. variety.com/2017/tv/news/lord-of-the-rings-amazon-1202606519/ I'm a big fan of LoTR so any new take on the books is, to me, great, that is if the quality is on par with the films. There are so many things that were left out of the films that I really feel a TV series might do the books justice, if done in a well thought out way. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2017 4:32:47 GMT
I would probably give it a try and hope it is better than the awful Jackson trilogy.
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Post by kuatorises on Nov 7, 2017 19:30:54 GMT
It just seems too soon. And the money being demanded for the rights is steep. Um, the last one came out like 15 years ago AND this is a different medium. |
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Post by politicidal on Nov 8, 2017 1:52:57 GMT
Furthermore it irks me how every network is starting to jump on fantasy projects because they want a game of thrones ugh. Reminds me to the situation after the big success of the LotR movie trilogy - there were also many, who thought they could produce something similar and make big money with it, but in the end there was hardly any box office hit of that genre (more or less Fantasy of the Sword and Sorcery kind) besides the first of these Narnia movies. The Temeraire series would satisfy the 'dragon' fantasy action crowd and the historical fiction junkies that like Poldark or Outlander. Ironically, Peter Jackson was interested in adapting those books at one point. |
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Post by hardball on Nov 13, 2017 23:17:53 GMT
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Post by hardball on Nov 13, 2017 23:25:03 GMT
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Post by THawk on Nov 14, 2017 1:15:47 GMT
Very distressing news. Unless this is handled by the right people, get ready for black hobbits, transgender elves, and "critically acclaimed" orgies, or whatever gets you the Emmys these days.
LOTR should not be sullied by modern society. It exists in a world of its own, and should be respected/
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