‘Lord of the Rings’ Series on Amazon Will Cost a Ton

Amazon, who paid $250 million alone for the rights alone to make a 'Lord of the Rings' prequel, could reportedly spend $500 million or more for two seasons on production and marketing on the series. By comparison, Peter Jackson's original movie trilogy cost $281 million to make and ended up netting $2.9 billion at the box office. Technology and the sheer scale of TV shows have advanced a lot though since Jackson brought these movies to theaters back in 2001, so it was always expected Amazon would be paying a hefty price for production.