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Post by johnnypt on Mar 21, 2022 16:48:19 GMT -5
Amazon completes $8.5 billion purchase of MGM (and gains Hobbit distribution rights) by Demosthenes According to Variety, Amazon has finally completed its $8.5 billion acquisition of MGM.It was MGM’s precarious financial situation in the mid-2000s that delayed The Hobbit film series and contributed to the departure of Guillermo Del Toro from the production. Peter Jackson subsequently assumed the directorial role.Amazon says it’s acquisition of “the storied, nearly century-old studio … will complement Prime Video and Amazon Studios’ work in delivering a diverse offering of entertainment choices to customers.”Variety reports that the buy followed merger approval by the European antitrust regulator. That body’s review decided that overlaps between Amazon and MGM were “limited”.Readers may recall that the Saul Zaentz Co. also recently announced the sale of its entire holding of Middle-earth IP, and that there is an ongoing legal stoush over whether Warner Bros./New Line Cinema still retains its LOTR/Hobbit film adaptations license. Given the above, it’s not impossible (though the chance is, perhaps, remote) that Amazon could eventually unite all the currently available Middle-earth film and television IP under its own banner.Links: www.theonering.net/torwp/2022/03/18/112480-amazon-completes-8-5-billion-purchase-of-mgm-and-gains-hobbit-distribution-rights/variety.com/2022/tv/news/amazon-mgm-merger-close-1235207852/I know they have the money, it'd just be a question of how much they want to yank it away from Warners when they've already got their own corner taken care of without it. All of this still leaves them unable to use what they really need for the show (Silmarillion, Lost Road, etc.) I did take a look at the credits for the first episode, the writers worked on Game of Thrones and Sopranos, so they're not as green as the showrunners. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2022 17:06:25 GMT -5
Amazon completes $8.5 billion purchase of MGM (and gains Hobbit distribution rights) by Demosthenes According to Variety, Amazon has finally completed its $8.5 billion acquisition of MGM.It was MGM’s precarious financial situation in the mid-2000s that delayed The Hobbit film series and contributed to the departure of Guillermo Del Toro from the production. Peter Jackson subsequently assumed the directorial role.Amazon says it’s acquisition of “the storied, nearly century-old studio … will complement Prime Video and Amazon Studios’ work in delivering a diverse offering of entertainment choices to customers.”Variety reports that the buy followed merger approval by the European antitrust regulator. That body’s review decided that overlaps between Amazon and MGM were “limited”.Readers may recall that the Saul Zaentz Co. also recently announced the sale of its entire holding of Middle-earth IP, and that there is an ongoing legal stoush over whether Warner Bros./New Line Cinema still retains its LOTR/Hobbit film adaptations license. Given the above, it’s not impossible (though the chance is, perhaps, remote) that Amazon could eventually unite all the currently available Middle-earth film and television IP under its own banner.Links: www.theonering.net/torwp/2022/03/18/112480-amazon-completes-8-5-billion-purchase-of-mgm-and-gains-hobbit-distribution-rights/variety.com/2022/tv/news/amazon-mgm-merger-close-1235207852/I know they have the money, it'd just be a question of how much they want to yank it away from Warners when they've already got their own corner taken care of without it. All of this still leaves them unable to use what they really need for the show (Silmarillion, Lost Road, etc.) I did take a look at the credits for the first episode, the writers worked on Game of Thrones and Sopranos, so they're not as green as the showrunners. So, there's a little bit of potential for a half decent series? |
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Post by johnnypt on Mar 22, 2022 5:20:57 GMT -5
A bit :-). The director did that move The Impossible about the tsunami, but mostly did videos so a mixed bag there.
Edit-he also did the 2nd Jurassic World picture, so add that to the mix
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Post by johnnypt on Jul 15, 2022 17:45:13 GMT -5
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power – Main Teaser I think EW or One Ring.net has a breakdown of everything in here. A lot from Tolkien, a bunch not. We'll have to see how the pieces go together. A couple of the new characters do sound like a familiar set up: Elendil's daughter and (Ar) Pharazon's son, one father in thrall to Sauron, one fighting against him. Stop me if you've heard this one before... That said, it does sound like they were able to wrangle some things Silmarillion-ish into the story. |
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Post by Von K on Jul 15, 2022 20:55:11 GMT -5
Sorry, after having heard the comments from interviews with some of the creators of this show gotta say I wont be watching this. Tom Shippey's departure was the canary in the coal mine. And the fact that the creators try to rewrite Tolkien in their own image and psychologically project their own faults onto the fandom with an utterly clueless lack of self awareness is a major league warning klaxon to me. Edit: Hope I'm not being too acerbic. Enjoy it - if you can.  |
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Post by johnnypt on Jul 16, 2022 5:44:49 GMT -5
Sometimes I’m reading about their approach and I’m ok with it to an extent. Other times I’m shaking my head. Shippley’s departure was not a good thing, they needed to get someone else in to at least give the appearance of trying to craft a proper story out of this material. It’s a difficult task, and in some ways they made it more difficult with some of their approaches.
They did get a lot of the look down which is good. Sometimes it looks like they spent the money well, others it looks like a bunch of cosplayers heading to a convention. The rollout has been a mess at best, a disaster at worst. In six weeks it’ll stand on its own and go from there.
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Post by robp on Jul 16, 2022 7:41:32 GMT -5
Sometimes I’m reading about their approach and I’m ok with it to an extent. Other times I’m shaking my head. Shippley’s departure was not a good thing, they needed to get someone else in to at least give the appearance of trying to craft a proper story out of this material. It’s a difficult task, and in some ways they made it more difficult with some of their approaches. They did get a lot of the look down which is good. Sometimes it looks like they spent the money well, others it looks like a bunch of cosplayers heading to a convention. The rollout has been a mess at best, a disaster at worst. In six weeks it’ll stand on its own and go from there. Agree. Cautiously optimistic, especially after listening to the Prancing Pony Podcast guys talk about it on their new ROP show. |
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Post by Jason Aiken on Jul 16, 2022 14:00:30 GMT -5
The Wheel of Time show had some good points but I'm afraid they're going to botch this. Tolkien pastiche is new territory, and they seem to be very free and loose about Middle Earth.
It looks like they spent a ton of money, let's hope they did it wisely.
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Post by Char-Vell on Jul 18, 2022 7:37:41 GMT -5
I watched the latest trailer for it and saw a some things I liked. (barbarian hobbits?)
I will check out the first episode or two and see how it shakes out.
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Post by johnnypt on Jul 18, 2022 9:47:42 GMT -5
I watched the latest trailer for it and saw a some things I liked. (barbarian hobbits?) I will check out the first episode or two and see how it shakes out. Those are the Harfoots which appeared in a few sentences in the prologue to the Lord of the Rings, so they're good to use!  |
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Post by Char-Vell on Jul 18, 2022 12:29:48 GMT -5
I watched the latest trailer for it and saw a some things I liked. (barbarian hobbits?) I will check out the first episode or two and see how it shakes out. Those are the Harfoots which appeared in a few sentences in the prologue to the Lord of the Rings, so they're good to use! could be cool. I once played a Barbarian Halfling in a D&D game, much to the chagrin of my metagaming fellow players. He was more Homo floresiensis than Tolkien though... |
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Post by johnnypt on Jul 22, 2022 12:01:29 GMT -5
They won’t completely be shunning the Peter Jackson era, Howard Shore will proved the theme for the series (ala John Williams with Solo and Obi Wan). Bear McReady is doing the rest. We’ll see if he can come up with something as memorable as the Fellowship Theme
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Post by johnnypt on Jul 22, 2022 12:23:31 GMT -5
I also love how now they’re stressing the show is literally based on the appendicies. So if there’s any First Age imagery in the show, it’ll have to be in there somewhere.
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Post by johnnypt on Jul 23, 2022 18:22:04 GMT -5
They’re really playing up the dark parts in the last trailer.
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Post by almuric on Jul 23, 2022 20:51:14 GMT -5
After having seen the actor playing Sauron in this, all I have to say is:
"Won't the real Dark Lord please stand up,
Please stand up, please stand up?"
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