The licenses to all of Tolkien's works are up for sale. Who will step up and buy them?
The Lord of the Rings film and gaming rights are up for sale. Yes, this includes The Hobbit, and, yes, this is insane, because it means that anyone can buy The Lord of the Rings, and turn it into whatever they want. Lord of the Rings Rom-Com, anyone? Wait... that's what Sam and Frodo were anyway... Nevermind.
The Lord of the Rings License Is For Sale
At an upcoming auction, the licenses to the Lord of the Rings, the Hobbit, and other Tolkien works, will be up for sale. The projected price for Tolkien's masterworks? $2 billion. While that sounds like a lot, consider that Sony just bought Bungie for $4 billion, and then think about how big the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit are. With that in mind, the price tag is actually quite low, since any LOTR movie will easily make you $1 billion dollars by name recognition alone. Thus far, representatives have not commented, but the timing of this sale is no coincidence, seeing how the Lord of the Rings Amazon Prime show is set to premiere in September. It's very likely that Amazon will snatch up the rights, which include film, video games, merchandising, live events and theme parks.
Will Sony Or Microsoft Buy Lord of the Rings Rights?
Does that mean we will get another Lord of the Rings movie franchise? A Lord of the Rings TV-universe on Amazon Prime? Will we get more Lord of the Rings games? All of it seems very likely, and it's very intriguing to consider whether Microsoft or Sony will buy the exclusive rights to LOTR. Also, it's very likely, since Amazon most definitely is only interested in the movie side of things. This could be another potential major purchase within the gaming industry. After all, it's been rumored that another multi-billion-dollar gaming acquisition is coming.