That price is ridiculous, especially with no concept or talent attached. No way this makes the money back.
I don't think it's too much. You can exploit the shyt out of Middle Earth like Star Wars. many tales, and many seasons. And they can be multiple spinoffs. If done right, you could eat of this for decades.
Plus, I hear that the rights for a TV series in the Lord of the Rights do not encompass all characters and are limited.
Deadline article indicates that the rights might be a bit limited
It might be worth it for Amazon I guess, given how bad they need a big hit. But Netflix doesn't really need this and HBO would be better off focusing on creating a GoT spinoff in house instead of buying outside rights.
But look at it like this. The rights might be limited for KNOWN CHARACTERS. You can make up a whole new bunch of characters within Middle Earth, and its various kingdoms, that lead all sorts of directions. It's no different than the STAR WARS Universe. I think it's worth it to NETFLIX & AMAZON. Netflix doesn't have a GOT type series. And I doubt Witcher will become that.
There's so much real estate you can play with in Middle Earth. I'd be all over this.
Makes me wonder how much the TV rights to the Harry Potter Universe will inevitably go for. That's the one that I'd go big for. HBO would kill that.
I'd watch but that is an insane amount of money for just the rights.
To do it right you'd have to have a massive budget as well.
It would be very hard for this to be profitable