Amazon’s Bezos Attends Premiere Of $1 Billion Lord Of The Rings Prequel

It’s been called the most expensive show ever, but producers of Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Power Rings called the $1 billion price tag a “bargain” at a lavish world premiere in Los Angeles on Monday.

The highly-anticipated TV series, which launches September 2 on Amazon’s streaming platform, is said to be a personal obsession of Jeff Bezos, the online shopping giant’s multi-billionaire founder-turned-streamer.

Set in the world of JRR Tolkien’s books, thousands of years before the Oscar-winning The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, the series spans five sprawling 10-episode seasons.

Bezos joined the series’ stars and filmmakers Monday night at a launch event at Culver Studios, California, where the first two episodes were screened before a spectacular light show featuring dozens of lit-up drones.

Executive producer Lindsey Weber said the show’s $1 billion cost was “a very gripping headline that people love to talk about,” but promised viewers would “see that the money is really on screen.” “.

Speaking to AFP on the red carpet, Weber said the staggering expense was down to “preparing for five seasons.”

“If you look at what it costs to make a tentpole feature, we’re really quite a bargain compared to that,” she added, using a term for mega-budget blockbusters released by Hollywood’s top studios .

“The Rings of Power” is set 4,000 years before the film trilogy and the original books in a fictional “Second Age” – a historical period outlined in less detail in Tolkien’s writings.

The show features a large cast of actors who are not well known to global audiences.

Morfydd Clark and Robert Aramayo play younger versions of the elves Galadriel and Elrond – characters already familiar to fans of the Lord of the Rings films.

“It’s an epic adventure story with universal themes and a real labor of love — we all worked very, very hard on this and I just hope people enjoy it,” Aramayo said at Monday’s premiere.

“They built a city with a dock and ships floating in it – it’s mind-blowing and really, really incredible to be able to play on some of these sets.”