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The $808M series that's the biggest flop in TV history... and there's still three seasons to go
The Amazon series is now the most expensive TV show in history, with costs up to $808.9 million, even though almost two-thirds of viewers quit before the first-season finale.
Amazon's billionaire boss Jeff Bezos is a super fan of the fantasy series and was personally involved with the negotiations, as he saw the potential to turn it into a show that could take on his arch-rival HBO's Game of Thrones. The show found itself in the middle of a fierce row as its diverse cast of actors angered many fans of the books who claimed that Tolkien's masterpiece had been updated for the modern world in ways that altered the integrity of the original. Amazon's streaming show is set before Tolkien's books, which Oscar-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson turned into six movies starring A-listers including Cate Blanchett and Ian McKellen.
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