Lord of the Rings series shifts its base to the U.K.
Amazon Studios will film the second season of its The Lord of the Rings TV series in the U.K., shifting the production base from New Zealand, where the popular movie adaptations of the fantasy novels were shot.
Post-production of the first season will continue in New Zealand through next June, the company said earlier this week. The show, which The Hollywood Reporter says cost some US$465 million for the first season alone, is scheduled to première on Amazon's streaming platform Prime Video in September 2022.
While the company said the shift aligns with its strategy of expanding its production footprint across the U.K., industry publication Deadline reported that New Zealand's strict border closures during the pandemic kept British cast members from returning home for close to two years. The lockdown also prevented Amazon executives from visiting the sets to monitor shooting, the media outlet said.
In September 2019, when Amazon announced New Zealand as the production site for the show, it praised the country's abundant “hospitality,” and said it looked forward to deepening their partnership. New Zealand's government is disappointed with the studio's decision to move filming elsewhere, economic development minister Stuart Nash said in a statement Friday.
New Zealand, which saw a tourism boom after the first chapter of The Lord of the Rings film trilogy was released in 2001, attached great importance to Amazon's series, agreeing to grant an extra five per cent on top of the standard 20 per cent rebate incentive for production budgets. That extra rebate will be withdrawn. Still, for the first season Amazon Studios is potentially eligible for a $92-million rebate, Nash said.
Amazon Studios' move highlights the problems the film industry faces during the prolonged pandemic, which has delayed works on many Hollywood productions as international travel remains difficult.