During its fourth-quarter earnings call yesterday, Amazon revealed it spent $16.6 billion on content in 2022. That’s up from spending $13 billion in 2021. That figure includes around $7 billion spent on original content, live sports, and licensed content available for free for Prime members. That’s up from $5 billion spent the previous year. While not explicitly detailed by Amazon, it’s generally accepted that the company spent $1 billion for rights to stream Thursday Night Football last year and over half a billion on the first season of its most popular original series, “The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power.” Read more ›

Amazon has greenlit the production of a new TV show to serve as a sequel to the movie Blade Runner 2049, according to Variety. The title has said to be Blade Runner 2099, which indicates the story will take place 50 years after the movie. Ridley Scott, who directed the original Blade Runner movie, is on board as an executive producer for the new project, as is Michael Green, the co-writer of Blade Runner 2049. The premise, cast, or release date have not been announced.

Amazon has announced that there were more than 25 million viewers globally that watched its original series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power on the first day. That makes it the biggest premiere in Prime Video’s history. That’s good news for Amazon given that it’s the most anticipated Amazon original series to date and the most expensive to make. However, Amazon has executed its relatively new policy of putting a 3-day hold on all Prime Video reviews for the new series to stave off those unhappy with the release. Read more ›

The debut of Amazon’s most highly anticipated original series, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, is 2 weeks away but Amazon is making a couple of last-minute changes to the premiere. Instead of the first episode being released at midnight on Friday, September 2nd, the series will now debut a little earlier, on Thursday, September 1st, at 6 p.m .PT / 9 p.m. ET worldwide. That’s certainly a better time if you were planning to watch it immediately as it becomes available on Prime Video, but not a significant departure from the original release schedule. What is a slightly bigger deal is that Amazon has now decided to release not only the first episode at launch but the second episode as well. The remaining six episodes of the first season will be released once a week every Thursday at 6 p.m PT / 9 p.m. ET. If you haven’t seen it yet, take a look at the first full trailer for the series released last month.

Amazon has released the first full trailer for its upcoming original series, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, based on the fantasy novels by J. R. R. Tolkien. This two-and-a-half-minute trailer is more substantial than the first 60-second “teaser” trailer released earlier this year. The series takes place thousands of years before the events in Peter Jackson’s six feature films. This trailer provides a first look at some of the characters in the series. The series is set to debut later this year on September 2.

The first teaser trailer for Amazon’s upcoming original series, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, based on the fantasy novels by J. R. R. Tolkien. The series takes place thousands of years before the events in Peter Jackson’s six feature films. This is easily expected to be Amazon’s most impressive original series and has cost $465 million to produce the first season alone, not counting the $250 million Amazon paid 4 years ago for the rights to make it. The series is set to debut later this year on September 2.

Amazon has released the first teaser trailer, available here on YouTube and embedded below, of its highly anticipated upcoming original series The Wheel Of Time. Amazon describes the series, which is based on the 14 volume book series by Robert Jordan, as “Set in an epic fantasy world, The Wheel of Time follows Moiraine (Rosamund Pike), a member of the incredibly powerful all-female organization called the Aes Sedai, as she arrives in the small town of Two Rivers. There, she embarks on a dangerous, world-spanning journey with five young villagers, one of whom is prophesied to be the Dragon Reborn… the one who will either save or destroy humanity.” The series is set to debut on November 19th, 2021. Read more ›