Prime Video Adds ‘The Lord of the Rings,’ ‘Hobbit’ Trilogies Ahead of ‘Rings of Power’ Premiere
Assemble your fellowship, “Lord of the Rings” fans!
Prime Video is revving up its promotional campaign for “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.” The company has made the theatrical editions — but not the extended editions — of the Peter Jackson “Lord of the Rings” and “Hobbit” trilogies available with a Prime Video subscription ahead of the launch for the series premiere of “The Rings of Power” on Sept. 2.
Previously, the films were exclusively available to stream on HBO Max. Warner Bros. Discovery owns New Line Cinema, the company responsible for producing the two trilogies, so the streaming rights would normally be exclusive, but apparently a deal has been made between the streamers to share the rights. It’s unclear how much Amazon paid to make the films available, but it may be another sign that the companies are close to returning HBO Max to Prime Video Channels.
The films are still available in both theatrical and extended editions on HBO Max, except for “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” which curiously is currently only available to stream on Amazon.
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The Hobbit Movies
The Hobbit collection is a three-part epic fantasy-adventure film directed and produced by Peter Jackson and based on J. R. R. Tolkien’s fantasy novel of the same name. The trilogy of films are set in Middle-earth 60 years before “The Lord of the Rings”, and will act as a prequel to Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
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The Lord of the Rings Movies
The Lord of the Rings trilogy consists of three epic fantasy films, based on the influential novels written by J. R. R. Tolkien, directed by Peter Jackson.
The addition is a smart promotional idea from Amazon. They’ve sunk nearly half a billion dollars into the first season of “The Rings of Power,” according to the Hollywood Reporter, and the series is known to be a passion project for Amazon founder and executive chairman Jeff Bezos. The tech company has committed to five seasons of the show, with an expected overall price tag of well over $1 billion.
Set thousands of years before the events of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, “The Rings of Power” will focus on the events surrounding the forging of the rings themselves. Fans of the movies will see familiar characters like Galadriel and Elrond, as well as characters and locations they’ve never seen before, such as the island kingdom of Numenor.
Amazon has been quite cautious regarding promotional material for the series, not wanting to give away too much. After a Prime Day teaser was revealed in early July, a full trailer debuted at Comic-Con at the end of the month, which signaled the beginning of the true promotional period for the show.
Now, less than a month from the Sept. 2 premiere date, the campaign now appears to be in full swing. Fans will surely want to binge-watch as much of Middle-Earth as they can before the new show premieres, and now Prime Video subscribers will be able to do just that all in one place.
Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Prime Video is a subscription video streaming service that includes on-demand access to 10,000+ movies, TV shows, and Prime Originals like “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” “Jack Ryan,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “The Boys,” and more. Subscribers can also add third-party services like Max, Showtime, STARZ, and dozens more with Amazon Prime Video Channels. Prime Video also offers exclusive live access to NFL Thursday Night Football.