Yowza:

Inside Amazon’s $250M ‘Lord of the Rings’ Deal: “It’s Very Much a Creature of the Times”

Amazon spent $250 just getting the rights to LoTR. Now they actually have to *make* the series, for which they are committed to at least five seasons.

When production expenses like casting, producers and visual effects are factored in, the series is expected to cost north of $1 billion.

That there is a whole lotta money. Disney shelled out $4 billion or some such for Star Wars, and it’s dubious that they will see a meaningful profit anytime soon (especially if “Solo” underperforms), but I can imagine that spending a quarter as much to make five to ten times as much screen-time (assuming ten-plus one-hour episodes per year of LoTR,compared to one two-hour Star Wars movie per year) will stand Amazon in good stead.

Still: I can think of at least three sci-fi properties that Amazon – or runner-up Netflix – could snag for substantially less than $250 million. Pax Orionis? War With The Deep Ones? Zaneverse? Come and get ’em, Hollywood.