The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has had a massive impact on fantasy television, and that’s not exactly a good thing. In the lead-up to the Prime Video series’ season 1 premiere, there was a lot of talk about how much money Amazon was spending on this endeavor. The production company seemed rather proud of this fact, using its budget to emphasize just how fantastically large-scale Rings of Power would be. However, things didn’t turn out quite as expected.
The reported budget for Rings of Power season 1 was $465 million, so about $58 million per episode. To put this into perspective, Game of Thrones season 1 cost about $6 million per episode, and even season 8 came in at about $15 million per episode. Overall, it’s estimated that Game of Thrones ate up about $560 million across its entire run, while Prime Video is expected to fork over close to $2 billion before Rings of Power comes to a close with season 5.
This is, quite frankly, absolutely ridiculous. Those sorts of numbers would be grotesque even for the best fantasy TV shows of all time, and, though Rings of Power isn’t as bad as some viewers would claim, it certainly wouldn’t sit in the same sort of league as Game of Thrones​​​​​​.
Rings Of Power’s Massive Budget Wasn’t Enough To Guarantee Success
Prime Video seemed to believe that the Lord of the Rings IP and a high price tag would make Rings of Power a shoo-in. The show was advertised as the fantasy experience of the decade, and with such high promises, it couldn’t afford to be anything less. Unfortunately, Rings of Power hasn’t come anywhere close. It’s an on-screen spectacle, to be certain, but it has struggled to maintain a solid audience base.
There’s a lot of fun to be had with Rings of Power for Tolkien enthusiasts. There are some canon-faithfulness issues, but this should make the fantasy TV show an enjoyable topic of debate as well as a guilty pleasure watch. However, a series based on the more obscure lore of The Lord of the Rings was always going to have a niche audience, which means Prime Video’s massive budget would never be worth it.
In the lead-up to Rings of Power’s premiere, just about every production company was eager to dig its hands into the fantasy genre. Game of Thrones’ success was a great motivator. However, any fantasy project will be expensive, so it’s an avenue that must be approached with caution. The fact that Amazon spent such an outrageous amount of money to appeal to only a niche audience has left a gross taste in our mouths. It’s a sign to reel things in, and that means a lot of unfortunate hesitancy within the genre.
Other Fantasy Franchises Prove That A Great Show Doesn’t Need A Large Price Tag
Ser Duncan and Egg stunned by Aerion’s brutality in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms episode 3
While Rings of Power​​​​​​’s conundrum has naturally given other production companies and viewers pause, there’s some hope on the horizon. Though Game of Thrones’ pricetag is significantly lower than Rings of Power’s, it was still an expensive show. HBO raised the per-episode cost to about $20 million for House of the Dragon, and even this spinoff has failed to attract the same level of attention as its predecessor. Now, the Game of Thrones franchise is taking a step back.
HBO’s newest Game of Thrones series, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, has dominated the streaming platform since its premiere. This fantasy show costs about $6 million per episode, and it has by no means suffered for it. Rings of Power may have sent a message that large-scale fantasy shows need to cost billions, but with a genre front-runner like Game of Thrones proving otherwise, the future of fantasy may be much brighter.
Release Date
September 1, 2022
Network
Amazon Prime Video
Showrunner
John D. Payne, Patrick McKay, Louise Hooper, Charlotte Brändström, Wayne Yip
