Last year, the Embracer Group of Sweden made the deal of its lifetime and acquired Middle-earth Enterprises from the Saul Zaentz Company, which owned the rights to all of J.R.R. Tolkien’s works including the trilogies of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit franchise. The Embracer Group now owns all the rights to movies, series, video games, merchandise, and everything else that the franchise has to offer.
Although the exact details of the deal between Embracer Group and Saul Zaentz company were not revealed at the time, according to recent sources, the Swedish game giant got a huge bargain in acquiring the Lord of the Rings franchise.
Embracer Group acquired the rights of the Lords of the Ring franchise only for $395 million
The Embracer Group recently confirmed in a report that they reportedly only spent $395 million in acquiring Middle-earth Enterprises from The Saul Zaentz Company last year. Considering the worth of everything that Middle-earth Enterprises has produced and owns the right to, last year it was reported that the acquisition deal would allegedly take place at a whopping amount of $2 billion.
The CEO and founder of the Embracer Group, Lars Wingefors also expressed his feelings last year after the acquisition of the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit franchise. He said,
“I am truly excited to have The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, one of the world’s most epic fantasy franchises join the Embracer family. Going forward, we also look forward to collaborating with both existing and new external licensees of our increasingly stronger IP portfolio.”
Amazon allegedly paid almost $250 million just to acquire the rights to a single series
Back in 2017, Amazon allegedly paid almost $250 million to just acquire the rights to a single The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power series. In comparison to what the Embracer group paid for the whole acquisition of the franchise, it seems like Amazon really did not make a good deal there. On top of the $250 million, it allegedly cost Amazon a whopping amount of almost $464 million in just the making of the first season of the series.
According to Amazon, Season 1 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power series turned out to be the most watched of any Prime Video original series. Season 2 of the series is currently in development and is expected to be released in 2024.
Season 1 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power series is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Source: Variety
