Amazon paid for a 1-minute Super Bowl ad to reveal the first official trailer for the company’s new prequel to the “Lord of the Rings” series, called “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.”
The upcoming series debuts on Prime Video on Sept. 2.
“The Rings of Power” is set in the Second Age of Middle Earth, thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings.”
Amazon first announced that it had acquired the rights to adapt Tolkien’s work in 2017. The tech giant is spending a reported $465 million the first season, in addition to a reported $250 million for the rights alone.
Amazon had two other Super Bowl ads: a spot promoting its exclusive takeover of “Thursday Night Football,” and a commercial touting Amazon’s Alexa featuring Scarlett Johansson (“Black Widow”) and Colin Jost (“Saturday Night Live”).
Super Bowl commercials are running at around $6.5 million for a 30-second spot this year.
Both Amazon CEO Andy Jassy and chairman Jeff Bezos tweeted the “LOTR” clip.
Tolkien’s book series was named Amazon customers’ favorite book of the millennium in 1999. Director Peter Jackson’s theatrical adaptations included “The Fellowship of the Ring” (2001); “The Two Towers” (2002); and “The Return of the King” (2003). The films grossed nearly $6 billion worldwide and won a combined 17 Academy Awards, including Best Picture for “King.”
Amazon spent $13 billion on video and music content last year, up 18% from 2020, as it aims to boost the value of its Prime membership, which is getting a price increase this year from $119/year to $139/year.
