Today, Amazon announced that it has acquired the global television rights to The Lord of the Rings to create an original, multi-season series that will debut exclusively on Amazon Prime Video. Working with the Tolkien Estate and Trust, HarperCollins and New Line Cinema, a division of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Amazon Studios will produce a series that will explore storylines that precede Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring, taking fans on a new journey through Middle Earth.
According to Deadline, the Tolkien estate had approached Amazon, Netflix and HBO about the project with an upfront fee of $200-$250 million, with sources claiming that Amazon secured the deal with an agreement close to the $250 million mark. That $250 million is only for the rights. Amazon will still need to pony up to pay for production, which could likely cost between $100-$150 million per season.
Amazon has recently turned its original series focus away from niche prestige offerings like The Last Tycoon and Z: The Beginning of Everything (both canceled this fall) and has been actively looking for its own Game of Thrones-style series with global appeal after a directive from company CEO Jeff Bezos. Amazon thinks The Lord of the Rings is the next Game of Thrones. "The Lord of the Rings is a cultural phenomenon that has captured the imagination of generations of fans through literature and the big screen," said Sharon Tal Yguado, Head of Scripted Series for Amazon Studios.
'The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring'Credit: New Line Cinema
Amazon certainly hopes to capture some of the magic that Peter Jackson and his creative team brought to the big screen adaptations of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. With such a well-known property, fans will undoubtedly tune in when the new LOTR series debuts on Amazon Prime Video. The question will be, will this new tale of the ring lure them back for more?
It's the most wonderful time of year, Awards Season. And we're finally to the 97th Academy Award nominations. As always, there are surprises, snubs, and a whole lot of cinematic glory to celebrate.
Rachel Sennott and Bowen Yang the nominees live at 5:30AM in LA time from the Film Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater. You can watch a video of them below.
This year's race has been crazy, with Emilia Perez picking up 13 nominations, and it is the first time since 1997 that everyone in the Directing Award category is a first-time nominee.
Conan O’Brien will host the 97th Academy Awards on Sunday, March 2, from the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood. The show will start at starting at 4PM PT / 7PM ET on ABC and Hulu.
Check out all the 2025 Academy Award nominees below.
The 2025 Oscar Nominations
Best Picture
Anora (Alex Coco, Samantha Quan and Sean Baker, Producers) The Brutalist (Nominees to be determined) A Complete Unknown (Fred Berger, James Mangold and Alex Heineman, Producers) Conclave (Tessa Ross, Juliette Howell and Michael A. Jackman, Producers) Dune: Part Two (Mary Parent, Cale Boyter, Tanya Lapointe and Denis Villeneuve, Producers) Emilia Pérez (Nominees to be determined) I’m Still Here (Nominees to be determined) Nickel Boys (Nominees to be determined) The Substance (Nominees to be determined) Wicked (Marc Platt, Producer)
Directing
Jacques Audiard, Emilia Pérez Sean Baker, Anora Brady Corbet, The Brutalist Coralie Fargeat, The Substance James Mangold, A Complete Unknown
Actor in a Leading Role
Adrien Brody, The Brutalist Timothée Chalamet, A Complete Unknown Colman Domingo, Sing Sing Ralph Fiennes, Conclave Sebastian Stan, The Apprentice
Actress in a Leading Role
Cynthia Erivo, Wicked Karla Sofía Gascón, Emilia Pérez Mikey Madison, Anora Demi Moore, The Substance Fernanda Torres, I’m Still Here
Actor in a Supporting Role
Yura Borisov, Anora Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain Edward Norton, A Complete Unknown Guy Pearce, The Brutalist Jeremy Strong, The Apprentice
Actress in a Supporting Role
Monica Barbaro, A Complete Unknown Ariana Grande, Wicked Felicity Jones, The Brutalist Isabella Rossellini, Conclave Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
A Complete Unknown (Screenplay by James Mangold and Jay Cocks) Conclave (Screenplay by Peter Straughan) Emilia Pérez (Screenplay by Jacques Audiard; In collaboration with Thomas Bidegain, Léa Mysius and Nicolas Livecchi) Nickel Boys (Screenplay by RaMell Ross & Joslyn Barnes) Sing Sing (Screenplay by Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar; Story by Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Clarence Maclin, John “Divine G” Whitfield)
Writing (Original Screenplay)
Anora (Written by Sean Baker) The Brutalist (Written by Brady Corbet, Mona Fastvold) A Real Pain (Written by Jesse Eisenberg) September 5 (Written by Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum; Co-Written by Alex David) The Substance (Written by Coralie Fargeat)
Animated Feature Film
Flow (Nominees to be determined) Inside Out 2 (Kelsey Mann and Mark Nielsen) Memoir of a Snail (Adam Elliot and Liz Kearney) Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (Nominees to be determined) The Wild Robot (Chris Sanders and Jeff Hermann)
Animated Short Film
Beautiful Men (Nicolas Keppens and Brecht Van Elslande) In the Shadow of the Cypress (Shirin Sohani and Hossein Molayemi) Magic Candies (Daisuke Nishio and Takashi Washio) Wander to Wonder (Nina Gantz and Stienette Bosklopper) Yuck! (Loïc Espuche and Juliette Marquet)
Cinematography
The Brutalist (Lol Crawley) Dune: Part Two (Greig Fraser) Emilia Pérez (Paul Guilhaume) Maria (Ed Lachman) Nosferatu (Jarin Blaschke)
Costume Design
A Complete Unknown (Arianne Phillips) Conclave (Lisy Christl) Gladiator II (Janty Yates and Dave Crossman) Nosferatu (Linda Muir) Wicked (Paul Tazewell)
A Different Man (Mike Marino, David Presto and Crystal Jurado) Emilia Pérez (Julia Floch Carbonel, Emmanuel Janvier and Jean-Christophe Spadaccini) Nosferatu (David White, Traci Loader and Suzanne Stokes-Munton) The Substance (Pierre-Olivier Persin, Stéphanie Guillon and Marilyne Scarselli) Wicked (Frances Hannon, Laura Blount and Sarah Nuth)
Live-Action Short Film
A Lien (Sam Cutler-Kreutz and David Cutler-Kreutz) Anuja (Adam J. Graves and Suchitra Mattai) I’m Not a Robot (Victoria Warmerdam and Trent) The Last Ranger (Cindy Lee and Darwin Shaw) The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent (Nebojša Slijepčević and Danijel Pek)
Music (Original Score)
The Brutalist Conclave Emilia Pérez Wicked The Wild Robot
Music (Original Song)
“Never Too Late” from Elton John: Never Too Late “El Mal” from Emilia Pérez “Mi Camino” from Emilia Pérez “Like A Bird” from Sing Sing “The Journey” from The Six Triple Eight
Documentary Feature Film
Black Box Diaries No Other Land Porcelain War Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat Sugarcane
Documentary Short Film
Death by Numbers I Am Ready, Warden Incident Instruments of a Beating Heart The Only Girl in the Orchestra
International Feature Film
Brazil, I’m Still Here Denmark, The Girl With the Needle France, Emilia Pérez Germany, The Seed of the Sacred Fig Latvia, Flow
Production Design
The Brutalist (Production Design: Judy Becker; Set Decoration: Patricia Cuccia) Conclave (Production Design: Suzie Davies; Set Decoration: Cynthia Sleiter) Dune: Part Two (Production Design: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Shane Vieau) Nosferatu (Production Design: Craig Lathrop; Set Decoration: Beatrice Brentnerová) Wicked (Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales)
Sound
A Complete Unknown (Tod A. Maitland, Donald Sylvester, Ted Caplan, Paul Massey and David Giammarco) Dune: Part Two (Gareth John, Richard King, Ron Bartlett and Doug Hemphill) Emilia Pérez (Erwan Kerzanet, Aymeric Devoldère, Maxence Dussère, Cyril Holtz and Niels Barletta) Wicked (Simon Hayes, Nancy Nugent Title, Jack Dolman, Andy Nelson and John Marquis) The Wild Robot (Randy Thom, Brian Chumney, Gary A. Rizzo and Leff Lefferts)
Visual Effects
Alien: Romulus (Eric Barba, Nelson Sepulveda-Fauser, Daniel Macarin and Shane Mahan) Better Man (Luke Millar, David Clayton, Keith Herft and Peter Stubbs) Dune: Part Two (Paul Lambert, Stephen James, Rhys Salcombe and Gerd Nefzer) Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (Erik Winquist, Stephen Unterfranz, Paul Story and Rodney Burke) Wicked (Pablo Helman, Jonathan Fawkner, David Shirk and Paul Corbould)
'The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring'Credit: New Line Cinema
