Amazon has called a two week halt on all of its original series and films currently in production. Most notably its Lord Of The Rings series set during the Second Age.

What We Know

As the coronavirus continues to spread across the globe more and more studios are calling a halt on productions. In an effort to enact quarantines and conserve resources. Last week Disney was the latest, announcing a production half on all of their live action projects, Disney, Marvel, 20th Century Studios, Searchlight Pictures etc etc.

Now Amazon is the latest, on Monday the 16th of March Amazon announced that production on all of their shows and films would be taking a two week break. This will give all of their cast and crew time for quarantine. The production most affected by this is Amazon’s as yet untitled high fantasy series set during the Second Age of Tolkien’s Middle Earth.

Amazon’s Lord of the Rings Series

Of all of Amazon’s slated content their Lord Of The Rings spin-off is arguably the most anticipated. In a bid to compete with other high fantasy shows such as HBO’s Game of Thrones, and The Witcher on Netflix, Amazon acquired the Lord Of The Rings license from Tolkien’s estate. The plan being to develop a series set during the as-yet unexplored Second Age. J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay will be the showrunners and the series locked in its principal cast in January. Cameras began rolling in New Zealand last month with J. A. Bayona (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) directing the first two episodes. With the coronavirus scare however production has taken a two week break.

Long Term Ramifications

Long after the governments of the world get this outbreak under control, studios around the world will continue to suffer from the long term effects. Because of the virus studios have had to push back dates for release and production have all have been delayed. Throwing the very delicate release calendar for 2020 and 2021 out of balance. The losses are estimated to be upwards of several billion dollars to all the studios.

Stay tuned to this site for further updates and developments as we continue to watch the media.