The controversial Tolkien adaptation has a lot to prove in its second season.
The first season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power was undoubtedly Amazon’s boldest move in the history of Prime Video, its streaming platform. The company secured the rights to one of the most beloved and widely read fantasy franchises of all time and presented its own vision, which partly diverged from the original works of J.R.R. Tolkien and Peter Jackson’s iconic films.
An all-or-nothing investment of more than $700 million. Amazon made an unprecedented economic investment to acquire the rights to develop a series based on Tolkien’s work. Netflix had offered $250 million for the rights, but the Tolkien estate chose Amazon’s proposal instead because it wasn’t totally sold on Netflix’s Marvel-style approach. In total, Amazon spent $465 million on the development of the first season on top of the rights acquisition cost.
Viewership numbers. Although the typical lack of clarity about Amazon’s audiences have made it impossible to obtain more specific figures, the company announced that 25 million people watched the series on its first day. Jennifer Salke, the head of Amazon Studios, later told Variety that the series was approaching 100 million viewers as it neared the halfway point of its first season, with expectations for further growth.
An unofficial perspective. Data analysts like those at Parrots Analytics measured the demand for the series based on its impact on social media and the number of downloads. Their studies revealed overwhelmingly positive results: The Rings of Power had 30.5 times more demand than the average American series in its first month. However, it fell behind its main competitor, House of the Dragon, which was estimated to have twice the audience. While one could criticize it in comparison, the overall balance is positive.
Poor reception. Despite the strong demand, the series has received negative feedback from die-hard fans. Review aggregator sites like Rotten Tomatoes show significant discrepancies between opinions from the critics and the public. Amazon has even faced criticism for deleting extremely low ratings from its own platforms, such as IMDb and Prime Video, in an effort to prevent review bombing, according to the company.
What changes in the second season? Actually, there aren’t many changes on the surface. John D. Payne and Patrick McKay are continuing as showrunners, indicating that they’re sticking to their original plans for the series. Despite negative feedback, if the audience numbers are decent, the show will likely follow the established roadmap of five seasons.
The show is focusing more on Sauron. In the first few episodes of the second season, it’s clear that we’re going to delve into Sauron’s story. In the first season, Sauron was somewhat of a mystery, but now that his identity has been revealed, it seems likely that we’ll learn more about his origins. This was already done with Galadriel, and if the show remains true to Tolkien’s original works, we may also see the introduction of Morgoth and other divine beings, as well as new and unusual settings in Middle-earth. This would certainly be a refreshing change.
Challenging times for streaming. For some months now, we’ve seen streaming platforms start to close their wallets. It seems like Apple is moving away from releasing movies in cinemas and instead opting to premiere them directly on its platform, potentially pointing to fewer big-budget productions. Meanwhile, Max has been reducing costs and licensing its content to other platforms. As for Netflix, it may be winning the streaming war, but its customers are facing restrictions on account sharing and noticeable price increases.
Amazon is the outlier. Prime Video seems to have a seemingly endless budget for expensive series, despite some high-profile failures like Citadel. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power seems to be on surer footing, albeit with mixed audience reception. However, no company can afford to spend $700 million a year without seeing significant returns.
Amazon’s business. Let’s not forget that Amazon’s primary focus is its online store, rather than delivering compelling content. As a result, Prime Video serves as a high-quality and costly marketing tool for its Amazon Prime subscription service, which is the actual product Prime Video viewers are paying for. Jeff Bezos’ business generated $574 billion in 2023 using strategies like this, making it a sound plan for now. However, even the most exceptional products have their limitations.
Image | Prime Video
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