That some series productions require an enormous budget has been shown by titles like Stranger Things and WandaVision. With nearly 500 million dollars, the Lord of the Rings prequel “The Rings of Power” overshadows everything else and is more expensive than all “The Witcher“–seasons combined.
The first season of “The Rings of Power”, the highly anticipated Lord of the Rings prequel on Amazon, has left viewers with mixed reactions.
However, regardless of opinions about the content of the series, it is clear that it sets new standards in terms of production costs. In fact, the budget for the first season of “The Rings of Power” exceeds the total costs of one of the most popular series in recent years on Netflix.
Why is the Lord of the Rings prequel so expensive? For the rights alone, around 250 million dollars, or approximately 235 million euros at the current exchange rate, had to be paid. According to Amazon Studios head Jennifer Sake, Amazon is building an infrastructure that will support the entire “The Rings of Power” series.
In total, the costs amount to around 465 million dollars, making it higher than the total costs for all three Lord of the Rings adaptations – which were around 281 million dollars.
Other series productions have also been quite expensive; this one cost about half as much as The Rings of Power, but was canceled after just one season. And many have never even heard of it.
Compared to “The Rings of Power”, “The Witcher” is almost a bargain
How expensive has The Witcher been in comparison? Compared to the Lord of the Rings prequel, it is clear that The Witcher does not come close to the enormous production costs. The first season of The Witcher cost around 92 million dollars, while the second season cost about 176 million dollars.
The miniseries The Witcher: Blood Origin has a cost of around 50 million dollars (via 3DJuegos). This means that Netflix has so far invested about 318 million dollars into the The Witcher franchise.
Netflix had hoped for more. As our colleagues from 3DJuegos report, the subscription service’s plan was to make The Witcher its biggest franchise.
Initially, this worked well – within the first four weeks, 76 million households watched the first season of the series about the monster hunter Geralt.
However, Netflix then distanced itself from the community, as evidenced by the YouTube comments on the new trailer.
Fans blame Netflix for the recasting of the lead role
How are fans reacting to the trailer? That the role of the monster hunter is being recast and that we will see Henry Cavill as Geralt one last time in the third season has caused displeasure among many fans.
User Agniva Chakraborty writes under the YouTube video: “No one could have played Geralt better. Thank you for that, Henry Cavill. We will miss you.” and receives over 1000 likes.
“Respect your actors, respect the source, respect your audience. Thank you, Henry, you spoke for all of us.” writes Allstar Snave. This presumably refers to Henry Cavill wanting to stay true to the original story as a fan of The Witcher games.
And over 16,000 YouTube users agree with the comment by liking it.
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