Already a real critical failure with fans, the Lord of the Rings prequel series continues to be a problem for Amazon.
The Lord of the Rings is one of those unassailable works of fiction. Dare to give a negative opinion on Tolkien’s books or Peter Jackson’s films, and torrents of hatred await you on social networks. So when Amazon announced they were working on a prequel, fans jumped in right away. And when THE Rings of Power was broadcast, it did not miss: the series was destroyed. Today, it is even the cause of legal proceedings. But it’s not really the quality that’s the problem this time around.
Rings of Powersource of legal proceedings
We know that the series Rings of Power did not meet with the expected critical acclaim. But it was not expected to put Amazon in turmoil, months after season 1 aired on Prime Video. The firm of Jeff Bezos is indeed in the crosshairs of justice, after the filing of a complaint from a fan. He is also suing the Tolkien Estate, the legal structure that manages rights issues around the work of the British writer. This absolute fan of the Lord of the Rings, by the name of Demetrious Polychron, is thus claiming 250 million dollars! But why, exactly?
The man has written a whole series of “fanfiction” novels set in Middle-earth: The War of the Rings. And he decided to sue for copyright infringement, because he considers that at least “half” of the Rings of Power would plagiarize characters and storylines from one of his novels, The Fellowship of the King. But how would the writers of the series have heard of the novels of an illustrious stranger? Proud of his work, Demetrious Polychron is said to have written to JRR Tolkien’s grandson. If he never received an answer, maybe that would have made it possible to talk about him at Amazon? Difficult to judge, especially since his books themselves could be judged as partially plagiarizing the original work. There is therefore little chance that the complaint will succeed and that Polychron will one day see the color of the 250 million dollars claimed.
A series Lord of the Rings not up to expectations
From a business point of view, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is not a failure per se. The hearings were even sufficient for a season 2 to be started. Amazon revealed that the series has been viewed by over 100 million people. However, this figure needs to be qualified. First, because we recently learned that only 37% of Prime Video subscribers who started the series finished it. Then, and it goes hand in hand, because the critics have not been kind to him at all. While waiting for season 2, which should bring about a change of tone, we can bet on new films Lord of the Rings announced by Warner! But again, the fans will be intransigent.
