Variety has exclusively learned that The Saul Zaentz Co., which has been holding the rights to The Lord of The Rings franchise since the 70s, has decided that it will be selling to the highest bidder in Hollywood. Most likely, Amazon will be going after those rights after they already announced The Rings of Power show on their streaming platform that will release on September 2nd.

J.R.R. Tolkien could not have imagined in his wildest dreams that nearly 80 years after his first novel, The Fellowship of The Ring, was released, his entire imaginary fantasy world would go up for sale for a staggering $2 billion. The Intellectual Property would not only hold rights to the LOTR and The Hobbit stories but even the great saga of The Silmarillion, The Unfinished Stories of Numenor, and The Sons of Hurin that were published posthumously.  This transaction of exclusive rights would permit the buyer to do anything from movies to video games, merchandising, and even LOTR theme parks.

The timing of it all is not accidental by any means, as the anticipation for the upcoming Amazon Prime show The Rings of Power is growing with each month that we get closer to its release in September of this year. Amazon Studios has already spent $1 billion on the show’s production for its first three seasons and will most likely cash out to acquire the remaining rights to rule them all under one company in the land of Hollywood.