Embracer Group Paid $395 Million for ‘Lord of the Rings’ Rights | Variety
Embracer Group Paid $395 Million for ‘Lord of the Rings’ Rights | Variety
Embracer Group, the Swedish gaming conglomerate that snapped up the rights to “Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” in a surprise deal last summer, has finally revealed how m…
The Karlstad-headquartered company has confirmed it spent SEK 4.2 billion — $395 million at today’s conversion rates — to acquire Middle-Earth Enterprises from the Saul Zaentz Company last August. But estimates at the time projected the rights – which include worldwide rights to films, video games, board games, merchandising, theme parks and stage productions — were worth up to $2 billion.
Interesting that it fell so short of the $2 billion valuation. Wonder why that is.
I don't like Embraced Group. They give monopolistic vibes.
I feel like we've passed the peak of LOTR as a media phenomenon. As the Hobbit movies and The Rings of Power show, all the stuff surrounding LOTR isn't as interesting as LOTR itself, and there's only so many times you can retread the material from those three books. And the Tolkien estate seems to oppose expanding the universe beyond what Tolkien wrote (thank goodness).