Honestly, it’s really hard to tell right now.
Back when it was announced, everyone was under the impression that Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings series would have nothing to do with the Peter Jackson films. And that would be by necessity; there have been separate deals over time for adaptions of J.R.R. Tolkien’s work in the past. Usually with the proviso that they use the books as a source, rather than anything designed for the hit film trilogy.
But as it turns out, we all may have been wrong. Because, among the many revelations about the series dropped in this article on The Hollywood Reporter, there may be some ties to the films after all.
Dan Scharf, Amazon’s head of television business affairs, ran point for the streaming giant. New Line and parent Warner Bros. never had TV rights to Rings, but Amazon may use material from the films, so New Line president and chief content officer Carolyn Blackwood and Warner Bros. Picture Group chairman Toby Emmerich were brought into the talks.
Now, as to what “use material from the films” actually means is honestly a bit broad. That could be anything; sets, leftover properties pieces, role reprisals from actors, etc. So it’s very hard to pin down exactly what kind of deal Amazon’s made with Warner Bros.
All that said, it might not be too surprising. Warner knows that The Lord of the Rings was one of their biggest hits of the early millennium. It might be that they see this as an easy way to continue spreading the net, similar to the various games their developers have made. That’s supported by the fact that Amazon has managed to open a dialogue with Peter Jackson.
So maybe the whole thing has crystallized into a joint venture, of sorts. Or the deal is simply a means of adding a margin of error to avoid overlap-induced legal shenanigans. Either way, we’ll just have to wait and see.
Source: iO9
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