Astronomical R$ 2.4 billion per season moves Amazon series

The advent of streaming platforms has made the entertainment industry undergo several changes over the last few years, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, further boosting the popularity of the platforms with the lockdown. The search for high quality and exclusive content reflects the high investments that are currently moving the world of productions like never before. In this scenario, which is at least very curious, “The Rings of Power”, Jeff Bezos' multimillion-dollar series, by leveraging the desire to capture a crowd of viewers, brought about the injection of non-fiction R$2.4 billion per season , naming the production as the most expensive TV series in the world.

This initiative significantly reverberates the cinematic battle in this dispute between giant market players for being able to create “pillar” productions — a term used in the cinematographic world for productions that generate enough profit to cover those that do not bring the expected financial return.

_{Jeff Bezos promoting his huge investment series (Photo: reproduction/Instagram/@jeffbezos)}

The start

HBO, for example, “when everything was still bush” in streamingproduced the acclaimed series “Game of Thrones” in 2011, leaving executives at other platforms salivating over its success. Netflix, which is no fool at all, pulled out a trick from its sleeve and produced “House of Cards”, also enjoying a slice of the profit pie from its production. Leading Amazon in 2017 to pay US$250 million (R$1.7 billion) for the television rights to “The Lord of the Rings”, a work by British author JRR Tolkien, at the time held by the Saul Zaentz Company, acquired in 2022 by the Swedish group Embracer Group. Created to compete with “Game of Thrones”, the series “The Rings of Power” stood out for its magnificent production and investment ratio.

Seasons

Premiering in the second half of 2022, the series, filmed in New Zealand, brought extravaganza in special effects in its first season, which demanded a considerable portion of the budget, with its smooth R$845 million. Normally, Amazon does not inform about production values, but, as it filmed on New Zealand soil, the country's government, which promotes tax incentives, withheld 20% of the amount spent by the producer responsible for the work there. implying the cost estimate due to the financial statements of GSR Productions, a subsidiary of Reunion Pacific Entertainment, the Canadian company that produced the series, bringing in an amount of R$2.34 billion this season.

The second season, produced in the United Kingdom, which also promotes tax incentives for productions filmed in the country, with reimbursement of up to 25.5% of costs expected, confirmed the astronomical value of the mega production, this time, under the care of GSR UK Productions and the contribution of R$2.7 billion. However, even though the figures seem exorbitant, everything went in the natural course of the project according to the planned budget, reflecting an average per season of R$2.4 billion.

_{Galadriel and Theo in a scene from episode 7 (Photo: reproduction/Amazon)}

Feedback

Despite the high values ​​of overproduction and good employment rates throughout the production chain, audience feedback and criticism involving the dynamics of the plot that precedes Tolkien's saga, demonstrate the instability and uncertainty of a much more demanding market than expected. may appear. “Considering Rings of Power’s exorbitant costs, subdued viewership, and Amazon’s continued difficulty creating effective connections between Prime Video and shopping, it’s unlikely the company is seeing a significant return on its investment in the series.”says Tom Harrington of media consultancy Enders Analysis. The platform's primary intention, according to Tom, is to sell subscriptions, with the maintenance of its own content being an attraction for streaming consumers, who, upon arriving at Prime Video, find a range of possibilities, adding financial return to the platform derived from products of third parties.

The transformation is undeniable following the financial viability of mega cinematographic productions in the streaming era starting with “The Rings of Power”. And, nothing like one day after another in the corridors, film sets, script and production rooms, offices of the big players, departments and professionals involved in this production chain, because in the face of the facts, the audience had a positive impact much less than the noise promoted by the Amazon series and its reach in the world of cinematography.

Featured photo: promotion of the first season of “The Rings of Power” (Reproduction/Amazon)