Re: Lord of the Rings Series
 

Well, let’s be honest - most of it is going to be filmed against green screen or large scale video backdrop similar to Mando. An Amazon TV show isn’t going to have the sort of budget you need to actually go into the New Zealand wilderness and use it for location shoots, so why bother making it in New Zealand if you already own a capable production base somewhere else? The only reason they went there in the first place was sentiment.

Re: Lord of the Rings Series
 

Not everything in the books is going to be BIG SCENE stuff so you can film that in NZ and then move the indoor and more European look stuff can be better filmed here.

Re: Lord of the Rings Series
 

Point is, there’s no need for the big scene stuff to be done in NZ either, and from season 2 onwards it won’t be. Even if they did any ambitious location shooting for s1 they will have been taking note of the massive strides outfits like Lucasfilm have made in recent years (if you have access to Disney +, the making of the Mandalorian series is absolutely fascinating, especially the instalment that focuses on the Volume, which is a 270-degree video wall that replaces a huge amount of the green-screen work a show like that demands).

What’s tragic for NZ is superb news for UK TV production, because Lucasfilm’s Volume is the state of the art and if Amazon is serious about concentrating production of shows like LotR here, sooner or later they’re going to be building that sort of facility here.

Re: Lord of the Rings Series
 

It's not as if the British Isles doesn't have good outdoor filming locations that look Middle-earthish either. Tolkien wasn't a Kiwi.

The U.K is doing very well for TV/Film production. I read the other day that our studios are booked out for years. TV production is ramping up due to all the steaming companies and it's a perfect storm for us in that we have competitive tax breaks, are English speaking and have a large pool of existing trained production staff due to the amount of domestic television and films we've produced over decades.

Re: Lord of the Rings Series
 

This is the kind of series which is perfectly suited for the technology they use on The Mandalorian. The world is your oyster when you can create any environment you can imagine and Amazon have definitely got the money for it. For anyone who hasn't seen it yet this is well worth 4 minutes of your time:

Re: Lord of the Rings Series
 

I guess that means its renewed for Season 2 then ......

Re: Lord of the Rings Series
 

It would be stilly not to. I imagine the Mazon bean counters have been at it going "well Game of Thrones made $xxbn in merchandise over 8 years so we can do the same"

Re: Lord of the Rings Series
 

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power - Official Teaser which debuted during the Superbowl last night.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qN_3HITC7U

Re: Lord of the Rings Series
 

Just clicked that, and the trailer played as an advert before the trailer then played as a video :D

Looks very good tho. They seem to be sticking close to the production design of Jackson’s films, although having said that, those films deliberately leaned on conceptual art by John Howe who has been illustrating Middle Earth since he was a teenager, long before the Jackson films. There’s a very clear sense amongst fans of what Middle Earth ‘should’ look like, which any TV producer would ignore at their peril.

(Edit) New Line is involved in the new show, presumably because they still hold the rights, which would also clear any copyright issues around reflecting the production design of the films.

Re: Lord of the Rings Series
 

Re: Lord of the Rings Series
 

Tolkien's own pictures in "The Hobbit" are what I think of as Middle Earth. The rest is my own imagination.

Re: Lord of the Rings Series
 

It looks interesting, I'll certainly give it a go.

(Never read any of the books, I saw part of one film, once).

Re: Lord of the Rings Series
 

New The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Main Teaser.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewgCqJDI_Nk&t=2s

Re: Lord of the Rings Series
 

Really good start imo. I wish it dropped all in one cuz I would have watched most of it by now. Really like Lenny Henry in it too stuff the haters. All I thought when I saw him was I know that face not oh not a black hobbit

Re: Lord of the Rings Series
 

Only my opinion but after watching the first 2 episodes l thought it was outstanding and as good as what Peter Jackson done.