Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Energy hasn’t fairly been the large hit the corporate hoped for, in response to a brand new report from The Hollywood Reporter.
Whereas streamers like Amazon sometimes don’t reveal viewership knowledge, THR stories that solely 37 p.c of those that watched Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings collection within the U.S. truly accomplished it. That quantity does rise to 45 p.c abroad, though the outlet notes that per insiders, a 50 p.c completion fee could be “stable however not spectacular.”
Assuming this knowledge is correct, the vast majority of individuals not even ending an eight-episode season of a highly-publicized present wouldn’t bode too effectively for Amazon. Based on Selection, Amazon has already spent round $465 million USD (about $625.9 million CAD) on the primary season within the hopes of constructing out a five-season Recreation of Thrones-level tentpole. That additionally doesn’t embody the $250 million USD (about $336.6 million CAD) value to buy the LOTR rights from the Tolkien property, writer HarperCollins and New Line Cinema.
One other metric to gauge the Rings of Energy‘s efficiency is Nielsen, which tracks the variety of minutes watched within the U.S. for widespread TV exhibits. Based on the agency, Netflix held the high 10 spots within the 2022 most-watched streaming exhibits record, with Amazon’s personal The Boys even coming in larger (eleventh) than The Rings of Energy (fifteenth). Whereas it’s unclear precisely how a lot Amazon spends on the Toronto-shot The Boys (stories peg the primary season price range at round $10 million USD/$13.5 million CAD), it’s undoubtedly loads lower than The Rings of Energy. THR additionally notes that 2022 was truly an enchancment for Prime Video, as 2021’s high 15 most-watched streaming exhibits, per Nielsen, didn’t embody something from Prime Video.
Clearly, then, Amazon has already invested an ungodly sum of money into the collection — believed to be effectively above what some other firm has spent on a collection. As THR notes, The Rings of Energy has additionally did not be a significant awards contender, whereas Recreation of Thrones alone netted HBO 59 Emmy wins throughout quite a lot of classes, probably the most of any drama collection.
Talking to THR, Amazon Studios boss Jennifer Salke denied stories that The Rings of Energy has underperformed. “This want to color the present as something lower than successful — it’s not reflective of any dialog I’m having internally,” she advised the publication. She went on to say that the second season, which has been filming since October, presents “an enormous alternative” to develop the property after a variety of setup was required in its freshman outing.
The dialogue surrounding The Rings of Energy got here as half of a bigger THR piece on Amazon’s leisure enterprise. In it, the outlet stories that quite a lot of creatives name Amazon Studios “a complicated and irritating place to do enterprise,” citing uncertainty surrounding the kinds of content material it needs to provide.
“There’s no imaginative and prescient for what an Amazon Prime present is. You possibly can’t say, ‘They stand for this sort of storytelling.’ It’s fully random what they make and the way they make it,” says one showrunner who’s labored loads with Prime Video, per THR.
The total THR characteristic might be discovered right here.
Supply: The Hollywood Reporter
Picture credit score: Amazon