TV series planned on Tolkien novels

LOS ANGELES: Amazon had acquired the global television rights to The Lord of the Rings and planned to adapt the fantasy novels by JRR Tolkien into a television series, the company said yesterday.

The television adaptation will explore new storylines preceding Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring, the first in the The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

The deal includes a poten- tial additional spin-off series.

The original series would be produced by Amazon Studios in co-operation with the Tolkien Estate and Trust, HarperCollins and New Line Cinema, a division of Warner Brothers Entertainment, Amazon said.

“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 at Amazon Studios.

The Lord of the Rings novels were named Amazon customers’ favourite book of the millennium in 1999.

The movies – The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King – earned a combined gross of nearly $6 billion worldwide. – ANA-DPA