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-Short Attention Span Theater-

Amazon to produce ‘Lord of the Rings’ television series

2017-11-14

[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Amazon.com Inc has bought the global television rights to “The Lord of the Rings,” the company said on Monday, in what may be its biggest and most expensive move yet to draw viewers to its streaming and shopping club Prime.
This week: Saruman's putting on a new show at the Club, but doesn't want Gimli to be in it.
Amazon said it will produce a multi-season series that explores new storylines preceding author J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Fellowship of the Ring,” the first installment in the famed fantasy trilogy.
This week: Sauron's been selling whiskey to the Orcs. Aragorn and Jim Hardy have to get the goods on him.
Three movies made of the trilogy in the early 2000s, filmed in New Zealand and based on Tolkien’s novels, garnered nearly $3 billion at the box office and 17 Academy Awards.
This week: Gandalf accidentally turns himself into a hat rack.
New Line Cinema, which distributed the film trilogy, the Tolkien Estate and Trust, and publisher HarperCollins will work with Amazon to produce the television series. Amazon did not say how much it was paying for the rights.
This week: Rosie thinks she might be pregnant. Sam tells her he's too young to settle down...
The project underscores a shift in Amazon’s video programming. Its studio started in 2010 with a focus on unique shows beloved by critics, such as “Transparent,” about a father coming out as transgender to his family.
This week: Pippin's barrel of Old Toby is missing. He suspects Bilbo.
That was a winning formula for attracting Hollywood talent, awards and buzz, though not Prime subscribers around the world.

Posted by:Fred

#11 Where did the old b/w SC from the 50's go?
Too close to documentary news I guess.

Posted by: Skidmark 2017-11-14 22:14

#10 Heard a joke years ago about a Hollywood producer who was driving to work one day and had a brainstorm about a new original idea for a show that had never been done.
He called in and quit over the phone because he was so ashamed.

Posted by: ed in texas 2017-11-14 16:15

#9 There are vast amounts of good scifi and alternate history that would make great TV or movies.

Netflix has shown me that only the worst scifi makes it to the screen. And I can't watch the current comic book adaptations. Children's entertainment.

Posted by: phil_b 2017-11-14 16:12

#8 Sweet chicken fried nuggets of pig crap.

The Shannara show...I read the books..show was everything kinda ho hum about the books with a Twilight polishing. Felt like I was watching some show on MTV.

Thought the Fellowship trilogy was good, especially trying to live up to the material. Hobbit trilogy was a puppy mill massacre. The only thing they got right was an explanation of dragon sickness, which from a real lecturer of literature explained would have been a well known allegory when Tolkien wrote The Hobbit.

Other than remaking House of Cards, there are some logistical problems here, if you will. That is, characters who transition from The Hobbit to Fellowship, Bilbo and Gandalf and also buddyfkd into this topic, Legolas and Saruman. Who is going to fill those roles? Also, we already know whether good or evil will win, because the conclusion is sitting in boxes next to the TV. All there is to do is have a bunch of brand new characters isolated from any previous brand work other than a name drop here and there doing whatever. If I wanted to watch a bunch of characters I don't care about talk about things which don't matter in a fantasy setting, I can watch ScyFi or ESPN.

I simply do not understand why The Silmarillion isn't tapped, other than drugsn'sex overtaking creativity in non-reality entertainment. Sure, the book is as exciting as watching a box turtle hunt down a beetle, but there are some plot points which are not only open ended but could be expanded into a three or even six part movie series.

Great in-line Fred.

Posted by: swksvolFF 2017-11-14 14:25

#7 I never put that together but the name is from Jewish myth and he is crazy over his precious like the worst stereotype. Yet Gollum is the one that destroys the ring and saves Middle Earth.

Posted by: rjschwarz 2017-11-14 14:17

#6 Sauron = Trump?

p.s. (from Grom Jr) Gollum is a Jew

Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2017-11-14 14:09

#5 The LOTR trilogy was fine. Like Silentbrick, I had trouble watching one of the Hobbit movies, and I think a series will suck eggs worse than Lt. Tom Paris playing 'Captain Proton' on the holodeck of the USS Voyager.

Posted by: Raj 2017-11-14 11:55

#4 And isn't so boring. Honestly, I find it hard to watch these days despite owning all the extended editions. By the third one, it got very cliche and the Hobbit ones didn't make that feeling go away. I've only watched it once and feel no desire to rewatch.

And I tried to watch the Shannara series...modern fabrics, accents and actors made of wood just make it....bad.

Posted by: Silentbrick 2017-11-14 10:12

#3 Guess the Shannara series is doing well.

Better to grab up a property like Conan (or Dark Company). Something that isn't memorized and doesn't come with encyclopedia's explaining the minutia.

Posted by: rjschwarz 2017-11-14 10:08

#2 Legolas & Gimli as a gay couple? Frodo trans-gendered? Sauron = Trump?

Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2017-11-14 06:04

#1 This week Aragorn lectures the Hobbits on the evil of pipeweed
Next week Jesse Underhill forms the Shire Association for the Advancement of Orcs Bringing all peoples of Middle Earth under one large Rainbow.

Posted by: Cheaderhead 2017-11-14 05:46

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