Amazon is spending a fortune on Lord of the Rings in New Zealand — Quartz
April 16, 2021 Amazon Studios is risking a lot on its upcoming Lord of the Rings series. But there’s another entity that wants the TV show to be a success even more than Amazon: the government of New Zealand. New Zealand is granting Amazon a NZ$160 million ($114 million) taxpayer-funded subsidy to film the first season of the company’s Lord of the Rings series there, Radio New Zealand (RNZ) reported yesterday. The subsidy is part of a broad agreement between New Zealand and Amazon designed to leverage the fantasy production to boost New Zealand’s economy over the span of a decade.