Last week, reports emerged that Amazon would probably spend closer to half a billion dollars (if not more) to get its Lord Of The Rings prequel series onto our screens, making the adaptation the most expensive show to date. But it looks like the e-commerce giant, which posted a $1.9 billion profit in the last quarter of 2017 alone, is already gearing up to outdo itself. The Financial Times reports the Jeff Bezos-led online retailer is considering paying $1 billion for the rights and production of a series based on the Hugo Award-winning The Three-Body Problem.
The Financial Times article covers the broader topic of Hollywood’s various attempts at capitalizing on Chinese’s huge market; Amazon Studios is far from the only company trying to get a foothold. But right now, it is the only entity considering spending a billion dollars on Cixin Liu’s sci-fi trilogy, which was nominated for a 2014 Nebula Award and impressed former president Barack Obama upon its Tor release. The Three-Body Problem is the title of the first book, the most popular in the series, as well as the name of the overall trilogy. The plan is to make three seasons based on the three books. This could be a substantial hit for Amazon, which has been looking to generate its own Game Of Thrones-like ratings success. Lin Qi, the chairman of online game developer Youzu Interactive, currently holds the rights to Liu’s trilogy.