Television is getting more expensive than ever before. With series like Game of Thrones constantly pushing the envelope, we’re a far cry away from when Buffy used to take on dudes in makeup and rubber suits back in the late-90s. All you need to do is take a look at shows like Netflix’s upcoming Lost in Space to notice that the production value gap between TV and movies appears to be narrowing.

While this budget ballooning is something that may very well pop in the near future (when networks realize that production value and ballooning budgets don’t trump story and character), there is one series I’d like to spotlight here.

The outlet Reuters recently had a look at some internal numbers at Amazon, and as we already knew, the online giant spent a whopping $250M just for the rights of Lord of the Rings, which they plan to adapt into a series (though, the more we hear about it, the more it sounds like it’ll be more of a prequel). However, the outlet continues that between the production and marketing for the first two seasons alone, that can be another $250M, making for a grand total of $500M.

Admittedly, that sounds like a lot, but when you break it all down, it doesn’t sound surreal in terms of its production budget. That $250M rights cost is uncommon, but not really a factor when it comes to the production value on-screen. When all said and done, it sounds like they may be spending around $100M-plus per season. Depending on the number of episodes, the budget can range from $8M to $12.5M per episode.

So in the grand scheme of things, it’s nothing particularly groundbreaking, but this is the first series I’ve heard of where we’ve been given a full cost of a series — rights, production, and marketing all included.

What do you think of these numbers? Was Amazon a fool to buy the rights at such a high price? Let us know down below!

Don’t forget to share this post on your Facebook wall and with your Twitter followers! Just hit the buttons on the top of this page.

SOURCE: Reuters