
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



<p>Amazon Prime Video’s&nbsp;<em>Lord of the Rings</em>&nbsp;prequel,&nbsp;<em>The Rings of Power,</em>&nbsp;attracted more than 25 million viewers worldwide on its first day, Amazon&nbsp;<a href="https://press.aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-details/lord-rings-rings-power-attracts-more-25-million-global-viewers" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced</a>&nbsp;Saturday, making it the streaming platform’s biggest premiere ever.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



<p>Amazon premiered the first two episodes of the epic fantasy series based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s writing in more than 240 countries and territories Friday.</p>



<p>The highly anticipated eight-episode season is scheduled to run until October 14.</p>



<p>The release of the&nbsp;<em>Lord of the Rings</em>&nbsp;spinoff comes less than two weeks after HBO Max’s&nbsp;<em>House of the Dragon</em>, the prequel series to&nbsp;<em>Game of Thrones</em>, set an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2022/08/house-of-the-dragon-premiere-ratings-game-of-thrones-1234754303/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">HBO record</a>&nbsp;for a premiere with nearly 10 million Americans watching, only to outdo itself last week when it pulled in 10.2 million viewers in the U.S., according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2022/08/house-of-the-dragon-episode-2-ratings-hbo-1234756320/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">IndieWire</a>, which used data from Nielsen and first-party data.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h2>



<p>$715 million. That’s how much the series is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-expensive-11661482048" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">estimated</a>&nbsp;to have cost to produce, the&nbsp;<em>Wall Street Journal</em>&nbsp;reported, with some budget&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2022/09/02/amazons-the-rings-of-power-certainly-looks-like-a-billion-dollars-at-least/?sh=6d96580a1d95">estimates</a>ranging between $750 million and $1 billion, which would make it the most a production company has spent on a TV series.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



<p>It’s been 19 years since the premiere of director Peter Jackson’s final film in the&nbsp;<em>Lord of the Rings</em>&nbsp;trilogy,&nbsp;<em>The Return of the King</em>, which grossed more than&nbsp;<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167260/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$378 million</a>&nbsp;in the United States and Canada, including $72 million on opening weekend, according to IMDb. Worldwide, it grossed $1.1 billion, slightly higher than the final movie in the&nbsp;<em>Hobbit</em>&nbsp;trilogy,&nbsp;<em>The Battle of the Five Armies</em>&nbsp;(2014), which made&nbsp;<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2310332/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$962 million</a>&nbsp;worldwide and $255 million in the U.S. and Canada alone. Amazon Prime Video&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/robcain/2017/11/14/amazons-250m-lord-of-the-rings-purchase-price-is-1000-times-what-tolkein-first-got-for-it/?sh=49ce91727273">paid</a>$250 million for the adaptation and production rights from Tolkien’s estate in 2017, committing to five seasons.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2022/09/02/amazons-the-rings-of-power-certainly-looks-like-a-billion-dollars-at-least/?sh=6d96580a1d95">Amazon’s ‘The Rings Of Power’ Certainly Looks Like A Billion Dollars, At Least</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<p><a href="https://deadline.com/2022/09/lord-of-the-rings-viewership-rings-of-power-amazon-jeff-bezos-tolkien-1235107279/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">‘LOTR: The Rings Of Power’ Forges Biggest Premiere Viewership Ever For Amazon Prime Video</a>&nbsp;(Deadline)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.thewrap.com/lord-of-the-rings-the-rings-of-power-premiere-draws-25-million-global-viewers/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">‘Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ Premiere Draws 25 Million Global Viewers – Amazon Prime Video’s Biggest Ever</a> (The Wrap)</p>



<p><strong><em>By Brian Bushard, Forbes Staff</em></strong></p>


Tag: Lord Of The Rings

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25 Million Watched ‘Lord Of The Rings’ Spinoff ‘Rings Of Power’ Premiere