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Amazon Is Making a 'Lord of the Rings' Prequel Series (techcrunch.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the greatest-fantasy-of-all-time dept.

Amazon is making a Lord of the Rings prequel TV series for its Amazon Instant streaming service. The show, which already carries a multi-season commitment, will "explore new storylines preceding J.R.R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring." TechCrunch reports: It's possible the new series will mine the ponderous but rich Silmarillion for material, as fan fiction writers and lore aficionados have done for decades. The exploits of the Elf-Lords of old would make for a stirring epic, while many would thrill at the possibility of seeing Moria at the height of its grandeur. So much depends on the quality of the adaptation, though. Amazon has been pretty good about its Originals, but this will be an undertaking far beyond the scope of anything its studios and partners have yet attempted. Amazon is partnering with New Line Cinema, which of course was the film company behind the much-loved trilogy that began in 2001, and the Tolkien Estate, as well as HarperCollins for some reason. The deal also "includes a potential additional spin-off series," presumably if it's popular enough.

3 of 109 comments (clear)

  1. too many streaming platforms by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 3, Informative

    There are just to many too many streaming platforms out there. Much less a lot of HBO like ones that have shows on them I don't want to have to buy / deal with 4-5 different stores / ui's / apps / offline rules.

    HBO
    amazon prime
    youtube red
    CBS All Access
    netflix
    etc

  2. Re:Hobbit by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 1, Informative

    > If I recall, they filmed the Hobbit at an unusually high framerate.

    Yes, they did at 48 FPS. They made two mistakes:

    * 48 fps STILL looks like shit since it is sub 60 FPS. There is a reason VR try to aim for 96 FPS as a minimum. The sweet spot is between 96 Hz and 120 Hz for _smooth_ motion.
    * A high frame can't save crappy directing. They had TWO directors due to the extreme workload -- Peter almost suffered complete burn-out due to Warner Bros fucking them over.

  3. Re:No one cares. by meglon · · Score: 3, Informative

    Don't knock it, Bored of the Rings was hilarious... although it was a better read in the late 70's than it would be now; it really didn't age well.

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