Over the past couple of weeks, you might have heard some mention about Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. With “Avengers: Endgame” and “Game of Thrones” attempting to out-epic each other and simultaneously provide satisfying endings to long-running series, the obvious comparison is Jackson’s Oscar-winning trilogy. But even after ‘Thrones’ and ‘Endgame’ wrap up their respective franchises, “Lord of the Rings” is poised to stay in the zeitgeist even longer, as Amazon begins work on its $1 billion TV series based on Tolkien’s novels.
Speaking to IndieWire, ‘Rings’ star Elijah Wood talks about the current state of blockbuster filmmaking, as it relates to his trilogy, as well as talking about Amazon’s upcoming series. And in reading his comments, it’s clear that Wood is just flabberghasted at what has happened to the industry in the decade since ‘Return of the King’ finished off the fantasy series. (And no, we aren’t including Jackson’s ‘Hobbit’ films in this discussion, sorry.)
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First, Wood talks about Amazon’s massive investment in bringing ‘Rings’ to its streaming service. It was reported that the tech company spent $250 million just for the rights to the franchise, and is reportedly in the hold roughly $1 billion due to the investment plus anticipated production costs, making the series the most expensive in history.
“That’s crazy to me,” the actor said. “That wouldn’t have happened back then because the Tolkien estate didn’t know what they had as much as they do now. It’s all a product of the world they live in. They know now what they have, they know how lucrative it is.”
The unknown potential of the series is what Wood feels made the first trilogy so special. No one saw it coming.
“The thing that was wild about ‘Lord of the Rings’ was that it felt like an independent movie, made by New Line in New Zealand,” he said. “It was kind of tucked away. If that movie was made now, it would be under very different circumstances, and a much larger machine. That doesn’t mean it can’t have soul. It’s just harder to do that.”
That being said, the actor is still interested in seeing what Amazon cooks up. And he doesn’t think that it’ll automatically be bad just because there’s so much of an investment.
“We have no idea what this is going to be like, and it could be great,” he said. “Maybe they’ll go to New Zealand and shoot a bit there for visual continuity. Who knows?”
He added, “‘Lord of the Rings’ just felt like a movie made by this small cottage industry out of New Zealand that had never made anything on that scale before. It’s a completely untested thing. But I’ll be watching. I’m curious.”
Don’t worry Elijah, we’re all curious. And most of us will be watching as well. No word on when the series will be released, but it’s rumored that production on the new “Lord of the Rings” TV series could begin by the end of the year.