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Sharon Tal Yguado, a former executive at Amazon Studios, has responded to the recent news about The Lord of the Rings TV show’s astronomical season 1 budget. Posting on Twitter, Yguado laughed at the $465 million number for season 1, saying, “Imagine if you actually had the correct numbers and didn’t report fake news.”
She was seemingly reacting to the price tag and former Hollywood Reporter editor Matthew Belloni’s own take on the story. He criticized the reported massive budget, saying, “Imagine if Amazon put this kind of money toward creating a world we *haven’t* already seen in six movies.”
New Zealand’s minister for economic development and tourism, Stuart Nash, said in an interview with Morning Report that Amazon is spending $650 million NZ ($465 million USD) for season 1 alone. The Hollywood Reporter said it was able to confirm this number.
Yguado was the Head of Genre Drama at Amazon Studios until her exit from the company in May 2019. In her role, Yguado worked on the Lord of the Rings series and was its “lead executive” since the inception, according to Deadline.
Whatever the case, Amazon is getting a special deal from the New Zealand government to help finance the Lord of the Rings TV show. The government just added another 5% rebate onto the existing 20% rebate to give Amazon more than $100 million in subsidies.
In other Lord of the Rings news, Amazon recently canceled its Lord of the Rings MMO due in part to a reported contract dispute.
