Viral
Becca Monaghan
Sep 01, 2022
Independent TV
The hotly anticipated Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Powerseriesis edging closer to its release – but one promo for the Amazon Prime Video series, in particular, has caught the attention of fans.
The new series, said to be the most expensive ever made, focuses on the Second Age of Middle Earth which happened thousands of years before the events of the films starring Elijah Wood that we all know and love.
However, people have called out the low-budget cinematography in a clip that's gone viral for all the wrong reasons as fans have been falsely led to believe that it is the introduction to the hotly anticipated show.
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However, the clip-in question belongs to an Entertainment Weekly magazine shoot. And we must repeat: It is not the new LOTR intro, despite the misleading tweet.
See it for yourself here:
\u201capparently this is the intro for the new LOTR show... this is what $750 million buys you\u201d— Celestial Stud (@Celestial Stud) 1661978940
Twitter did what it does best with the misunderstanding and spiralled into a string of hilarious memes. One user compared it to a "Horrible Histories music video," while another joked that producers put a Hollyoaks spin on things.
A third added: "Dumpster fire doesn't even begin to cover it. This will be meme fodder for the next decade."
\u201cPOV: you\u2019re blacking out drunk at a party and muttering goodbyes to people as you\u2019re stumbling towards the exit to get home\u201d— OSCAR (@OSCAR) 1661996852
\u201cIt\u2019s giving Kath & Kim vibes\u201d— Mark (@Mark) 1662034498
\u201cHe looks like a fuking game show host\u201d— The Cartoon Loon (@The Cartoon Loon) 1662033399
\u201cmerlin opening looks like it had a budget of \u00a310 and still looks better despite being over 10 years old\u201d— \ud83c\udf15 MUD&SLUDGE!!!! (@\ud83c\udf15 MUD&SLUDGE!!!!) 1662008318
\u201cThis looks like the trailer for a fake movie inside another movie as a gag.\u201d— MONEY FOR NOTHIN' AND YOUR POSTS FOR FREE! (@MONEY FOR NOTHIN' AND YOUR POSTS FOR FREE!) 1662002284
\u201c"I'M ACTING!"\u201d— dahadooshtube (@dahadooshtube) 1661998376
The eight-episode Prime Video drama "brings to screens for the very first time the heroic legends of the fabled Second Age of Middle-earth’s history".
"The epic drama is set thousands of years before the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and will take viewers back to an era in which great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were tested, hope hung by the finest of threads, and the greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkien’s pen threatened to cover all the world in darkness" the logline reads.
Amongst eager fans is Amazon's Jeff Bezos who gave notes on early versions of the script, despite being ignored by showrunners.
"Every showrunners’ dream is to get notes on early scripts and cuts from the executive chairman," Bezos told Deadline. "They just love that. I want to thank [McKay and Payne] for listening whenever it helped, but mostly I need to thank [them] for ignoring me at exactly the right times."
He continued: "My kid is a huge Tolkien fan and after Amazon got involved he came up to me, looked me in the eye and said ‘Dad, please don’t f**k this up'."
The first two episodes of The Rings of Power premiere on Prime Video on 2 September, followed by an episode every Friday until its finale on 14 October.
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