The Lord of the Rings Rights Cost Embracer Group Way Less Than You Think
Last summer, Embracer Group shocked the entertainment world by announcing that they had acquired the rights to J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth properties, including The Lord of the Rings. Following on the heels of news that Amazon had spent literally billions of dollars on a ten-year plan for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, it was easy for fans to assume that Embracer had spent similarly on acquiring the actual IP rights that would allow the next iteration of that show to exist -- but a new report suggests that isn't the case at all, and that in fact, Embracer Group paid less than $400 million for the bundled rights to make Lord of the Rings movies, TV shows, video games, and the like.
In August 2022, news broke that Embracer Group had acquired the rights to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit from The Saul Zaentz Company, the rights holders for the franchise since 1976. This makes this deal rather historic given the company has been responsible for all of the official adaptations of the series and they're now handing it off to Embracer Group.
To put into perspective just what a bargain it was, Variety -- who reports the price tag as $395 million -- estimates that the market value of the rights at the time of the sale was roughly $2 billion, if you use mega-deals like Disney's Marvel and Lucasfilm purchases as points of comparison.
"I am truly excited to have The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, one of the world's most epic fantasy franchises join the Embracer family, opening up more transmedia opportunities including synergies across our global group," said Lars Wingefors, Founder and Group CEO Embracer Group, at the time. "I am thrilled to see what lies in the future for this IP with Freemode and Asmodee as a start within the group. Going forward, we also look forward to collaborating with both existing and new external licensees of our increasingly stronger IP portfolio."
In the year since, one of the first things Embracer did was to announce a new MMO based on The Lord of the Rings, being developed in cooperation with Amazon.
"The world of Middle-earth continues to prove an endlessly fertile ground for creators, and Amazon Games has a passion for building immersive, compelling worlds and publishing games for a global audience", said Embracer's CEO of Freemode Lee Guinchard of the deal. "We have the clear ambition to create the highest-quality entertainment products for this IP, whether we utilize internal resources or team up with the best industry partners that complement our capabilities. We're taking every care to deliver an MMO which will do justice to the expansive Middle-earth universe and delight players around the world."
Embracer Group also recently acquired a bunch of Square Enix's western teams, such as Crystal Dynamics, as well as Dark Horse Media, the owners of Dark Horse Comics, publishers of Hellboy, The Umbrella Academy, and The Mask.