"A 1980s pop culture mainstay is plotting a comeback," reports Deadline.

"AMC Networks is developing a Max Headroom drama series reboot, with Matt Frewer set to reprise his role as the world's first artificial intelligence TV personality." Halt and Catch Fire co-creator Christopher Cantwell is writing the adaptation and is attached as showrunner for the project, which is produced by Elijah Wood and Daniel Noah's SpectreVision and All3Media.

Known for biting commentary, quick wit and manic glitching, the supposedly computer-generated TV host played by Frewer was first introduced in the 1985 British cyberpunk TV movie Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future. He became an instant pop culture phenom and went on to host a music-video show, star in ads for New Coke, appear on the cover of Newsweek and headline his own primetime series. Max Headroom aired on ABC for two seasons from 1987-88.
IGN notes that "Although Frewer is best known for Max Headroom, he recently had roles in Fear the Walking Dead and Orphan Black, and notably played the character Moloch in Zack Snyder's Watchmen."

schnell writes: A story (paywalled) analyzes the more uncertain fortunes of Marvel's most recent movies compared to their predecessors. From the article: "Since Disney acquired Marvel in 2009, the studio has produced 25 superhero films that have grossed a total $25 billion worldwide, making it one of the highest-earning film studios in Hollywood history. Among them are Marvel's 2019 Avengers: Endgame, the highest-grossing movie of all time with $2.8 billion at the global box office; Avengers: Infinity War, which grossed $2 billion, and eight more that topped $1 billion each. But since the beginning of 2021, the average global box-office gross of the six films produced by Marvel has fallen to $773.6 million — roughly half the $1.5 billion average of the previous six films ... Critical reception of the films has suffered as well. According to Rotten Tomatoes, a website that tracks movie reviews, the last six Marvel titles averaged a 75% approval rating among critics, compared with 88.5% for the prior six."

Some films starring less established characters drove a part of the drop-off such as The Eternals ($402M total box office gross), Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings ($420.7 million) and Black Widow ($373.2 million). But tentpole characters haven't always been a guarantee of success -- while Spider-Man: No Way Home grossed $1.9B globally and Captain Marvel took in $1.1B, Thor: Love and Thunder suffered a surprising 68% box office drop-off from week one to two and is trending towards a disappointing performance.

Are Marvel's more recent films just victims of unrealistic expectations or pandemic-era changes in movie viewership? Have audience tastes changed, or has Marvel lost the plot when it comes to its newer movies?

The San Diego Comic-Con is "back in full force for the first time since 2019" reports the Associated Press. And Amazon's Prime Video used the occasion to unveil a lush new three-minute trailer for their upcoming series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. ("If the evil rising is left unchecked, it will take us all...")

Over the weekend it's already been viewed nearly 7 million times.

"Beginning in a time of relative peace, the series follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth," explains the video's description on YouTube. "From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains, to the majestic forests of the elf-capital of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor, to the furthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone."

Comic-Con also hosted several panels on Amazon's Lord of the Rings series, including an 80-minute cast Q&A hosted by Patton Oswalt, Felicia Day, and Tiffany Smith. And the Associated Press reports that Stephen Colbert, "a self-proclaimed Tolkien fan, was also on hand to moderate a panel teasing the series on the fan convention's biggest stage," interviewing showrunners and executive producers J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay: The eight-part series will debut on Prime Video on Sept. 2, with new episodes arriving weekly. It is said to be the most expensive series ever made, with a reported budget of $465 million.... Jennifer Salke, the head of Amazon Studios, told The Hollywood Reporter last year that while the number is a "crazy headline that's fun to click on," "that is really building the infrastructure of what will sustain the whole series" which she called a "huge, world-building show."

Salke also said that a "giant, global audience needs to show up to it as appointment television" but that they were "pretty confident that will happen."
Five clips were also revealed to the Comic-Con audience and were "very well received by the crowd," reports USA Today. "They featured Galadriel and Elrond; Elrond and Durin getting ready for a friendly fight; hobbit ancestors the Harfoots; the Atlantis-like kingdom of Numenor; and an elves-versus-orcs battle." "It's a human story: We want you to take a step back and imagine your home .. and imagine that it's about to be taken away, that it's under threat," Payne said. "How far would you go" to protect that?"

When asked how they approached bringing characters to life that hadn't been described by Tolkien, Payne said, "We had the privilege of working with Tolkien scholars. Tolkien gave us all these amazing clues about characters in the Second Age. When Tolkien was silent, (we) try to invent things in as Tolkienian a way as possible." The producers and cast were quick to express respect and admiration for Jackson's films, but firm in their conviction that the show is something very different.

One important distinction was about dwarves. "We feel like dwarves are the butt of jokes, but we're going to take dwarves really seriously," Payne said.

"Moria, along with Hack (1984) and Larn (1986), is considered to be the first roguelike game, and the first to include a town level," according to Wikipedia.

And long-time Slashdot reader neoRUR remembers: At the dawn of the computer era there were some games that borrowed from Lord of the Rings and Dungeons & Dragons to create an experience like no other. It brought you into the world and you could be one of those characters, roam around, fight monsters, level up your characters. One of the more popular ones that would add to that was Moria (As in the Mines of Moria from Lord of the Rings) You quest was to kill the Balrog at the end.

This week one of the creators, Robert Alan Koeneke, who wrote Moria because he wanted a Rogue like game to play while at school at the University of Oklahoma, passed away. It has inspired many games and RPG's since.

I played Moria on the Amiga for hours and hours. His contributions to computer game history will always be remembered.
"Koeneke was working on version 5.0 of Moria when he left the university for a job," remembers NME, "though he made Moria open source so others could work on the project." In an email posted by Koeneke to a mailing list for Angband (a subsequent popular roguelike derived from Moria) in 1996, the developer reflected on his legacy.

"I have since received thousands of letters from all over the world from players telling about their exploits, and from administrators cursing the day I was born... I received mail from behind the iron curtain (while it was still standing) talking about the game on VAX's [an early range of computers] (which supposedly couldn't be there due to export laws). I used to have a map with pins for every letter I received, but I gave up on that...!"

While Koeneke never developed another video game, his influence on the gaming industry cannot be understated as his work directly inspired games like the Diablo series.

Those interested in playing the original Moria can do so here.

Thursday the first trailer appeared online for Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves — and 15 million people have watched it. "Here's the thing. We're a team of thieves..." actor Chris Pine says in a voiceover. "We didn't mean to unleash the greatest evil the world has ever known. But we're going to fix it."

The video's description explains that "A charming thief and a band of unlikely adventurers undertake an epic heist to retrieve a lost relic, but things go dangerously awry when they run afoul of the wrong people. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves brings the rich world and playful spirit of the legendary roleplaying game to the big screen in a hilarious and action-packed adventure."

The trailer also features Michelle Rodriguez, Regé-Jean Page, Hugh Grant, and a Druid that can turn into an Owlbear.

But at Comic-Con's Gaslamp Quarter there were also photo ops inside the legendary gelatinous cube, at a pop-up tavern serving glow-in-the-dark Dragon's Brew. The official "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves Tavern Experience" drew this rave review from Esquire. "Rest assured, friends, if the actual Dungeons and Dragons movie is anything like the tavern, it'll be a rocking, hilarious, self-aware, and — most importantly! — a fun trip." The team behind Dungeons and Dragons rigged the bar so that it would rumble like hell and fill with smoke whenever a dragon appeared on a massive video screen at the front. (We were supposed to infer that the tavern was under attack....)

Save a grog for me.
"Based on what we've seen, this movie looks like it's going to be a whole lot of fun," writes CinemaBlend: If you're hyped up for the campaign Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is promising here, you can take your place at the metaphorical gaming table starting March 3, 2023.
As the movie's trailer asks, "Who needs heroes when you have thieves?"

Long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 writes: The blaster that helped the Rebel Alliance finally take down the Empire could soon be yours.

Han Solo's DL-44 Heavy Blaster Pistol from the original Star Wars trilogy will be sold next month by Rock Island Auction Company. The weapon isn't just a lovingly crafted replica, either. It's the actual prop that was wielded by Harrison Ford on the set of the original film in the franchise, 1977's A New Hope.

Han shot first

"William Shatner closed out the first night of San Diego Comic-Con in style — with plenty of cursing and a look back at his storied career," writes the Hollywood Reporter: In an hourlong chat with emcee Kevin Smith, the 91-year-old actor talked about aging, space travel (both real and fictional) and his place in the pop culture consciousness....

He took time to address the importance and power of fandom to his career, and specifically to Star Trek, which 56 years ago introduced the world to James T. Kirk, his most enduring character. When asked to address the fans of that other major sci-fi franchise, Shatner quipped, "fuck Star Wars.... But not Mark Hamill."

"We love Mark Hamill," Smith agreed.

When asked by a fan if there were any new Star Trek series he thought rivaled his own, Shatner replied, "none of them."

"I got to know [creator] Gene Roddenberry in three years fairly well," said Shatner, "he'd be turning in his grave at some of this stuff...."
The article also quotes Shatner's more serious comments about his own recent trip into outer space courtesy of Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin.

"I went, and I vowed that every moment that I spent in space, would not be playing around in weightlessness, but looking out the window and trying to get an impression."

An anonymous reader shares a report: Netflix wants linear TV to die. CEO Reed Hastings has been banging the TV murder drum for more than 8 years now, and in the investor call today, he reiterated his belief, confidently saying that Netflix was in a great place because linear TV would be dead in "5 to 10 years." Hastings is financially incentivized to say this. One of the biggest competitors for the largest streaming service on the planet is the set of totally free streaming channels that beam into any TV with an antenna, and their costlier friends on cable TV.

After Netflix reported losing subscribers for the first time in over a decade last quarter, the company's Q2 earnings report revealed (PDF) the number of worldwide subscribers dipped by 1 million, including a drop of 1.28 million in the US and Canada alone. The Verge reports: That's better than its projection of losing 2 million worldwide, but the subscriber shortfall in the US and Canada is double the 600,000 drop it reported for Q1. Netflix now reports it has 73.28 million paid subscribers in the US and Canada, and 220.67 million worldwide.

Revenue increased 9 percent year over year from $7.3 billion in 2021 to $7.97 billion this quarter. Although the streamer ran into a couple of hiccups in recent months, including two separate layoffs affecting hundreds of workers, there was some good news. The season 4 release of Stranger Things boosted the series to the second most-watched show on the service, trailing behind the Korean-language hit Squid Game, which Netflix announced in June will be returning for a second season. Last week, Netflix announced a partnership with Microsoft on a new lower priced ad-supported subscription plan that it expects to launch by early next year. Netflix execs remain optimistic about the prospect of an ad-supported tier, noting that "over the long run, we think advertising can enable substantial incremental membership (through lower prices) and profit growth (through ad revenues)."

The company also recently began its crackdown on password sharing by creating an "extra member" fee for users who share accounts with people they don't live with. "The extra member fee of about $2 to $3 per month was implemented in Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru, with Netflix saying it would evaluate the rollout before making changes in other countries," reports Ars Technica.

An anonymous reader shares a report: Four months ago, Netflix began its crackdown on password sharing by creating an "extra member" fee for users who share accounts with people they don't live with. The extra member fee of about $2 to $3 per month was implemented in Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru, with Netflix saying it would evaluate the rollout before making changes in other countries. On Monday this week, Netflix announced a different kind of fee it will charge customers who share accounts.

The new one requires customers to pay for "extra homes" and will be charged starting August 22 in Argentina, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. "Beginning August 22, 2022, if your Netflix account is being used on a TV outside of your home, you will need to pay an extra $2.99 per month for each extra home. You will only be charged when you or someone who uses your account chooses to add an extra home -- this fee will NOT be automatically charged," Netflix says on its Honduras pricing page. The fee for each extra home is also $2.99 a month in the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, and Guatemala. In Argentina, the fee is 219 pesos per month (about $1.70 USD). Netflix apparently is aiming for a broader rollout of an account-sharing fee or fees by the end of this year.

On July 7th Art News explained how 95-year-old Austrian artist Herbert W. Franke "has recently become a sensation within the art world the crypto space," describing the digital pioneer as a computer artist using algorithms and computer programs to visualize math as art. Last month, the physicist and science fiction writer was behind one of the most talked about digital artworks at a booth by the blockchain company Tezos at Art Basel. Titled MONDRIAN (1979), the work paid tribute to artist Piet Mondrian's iconic geometric visuals using a program written on one of the first home computers.

Days before this, Franke, who studied physics in Vienna following World War II and started working at Siemens in 1953, where he conducted photographic experiments after office hours, launched 100 images from his famed series "Math Art" (1980-95) as NFTs on the Quantum platform. The drop was meant to commemorate his birthday on May 14 and to raise funds for his foundation. The NFTs sold out in 30 seconds, with the likes of pioneering blockchain artist Kevin Abosch purchasing a few.
In one of his last interviews, Franke told the site that blockchain "is a totally new environment, and this technology is still in its early stages, like at the beginning of computer art. But I am convinced that it has opened a new door for digital art and introduced the next generation to this new technology." It echoed something he'd said in his first book, published in 1957, which he later quoted in the interview (a full 65 years later). "Technology is usually dismissed as an element hostile to art. I want to try to prove that it is not..."

This morning, long-time Slashdot reader Qbertino wrote: The German IT news site heise reports (article in German) that digital art pioneer, SF author ("The Mind Net") and cyberspace avantgardist Herbert W. Franke has died at age 95. His wife recounted on his Twitter account: "Herbert loved to call himself the dinosaur of computer art. I am [...] devastated to announce that our beloved dinosaur has left the earth.

"He passed away knowing there is a community of artists and art enthusiasts deeply caring about his art and legacy." Among much pioneering work he founded one of the worlds first digital art festivals "Ars Electronica" in Austria in 1979.
Franke's wife is still running the Art Meets Science web site dedicated to Franke's work. Some highlights from its biography of Franke's life: Herbert W. Franke, born in Vienna on May 14, 1927, studied physics and philosophy at the University of Vienna and received his doctorate in 1951... An Apple II was his first personal computer which he bought 1980. He developed a program as early as 1982 that used a midi interface to control moving image sequences through music....

Only in recent years has "art from the machine" begun to interest traditional museums as a branch of modern art. Franke, who from the beginning was firmly convinced of the future importance of this art movement, has also assembled a collection of computer graphics that is unique in the world, documenting 50 years of this development with works by respected international artists, supplemented by his own works....

As a physicist, Franke was predestined to bring science and technology closer to the general public in popular form due to his talent as a writer, which became apparent early on. About one-third of his nearly fifty books, as well as uncounted journal articles...

Franke's novels and stories are not about predicting future technologies, nor about forecasting our future way of life, but rather about the intellectual examination of possible models of our future and their philosophical as well as ethical interpretation. In this context, however, Franke attaches great importance to the seriousness of scientific or technological assessments of the future in the sense of a feasibility analysis. In his opinion, a serious and meaningful discussion about future developments can basically only be conducted on this basis. In this respect, Franke is not a typical representative of science fiction, but rather a visionary who, as a novelist, deals with relevant questions of social future and human destiny on a high intellectual level.

"Customized action figures at massive scale," promises a video at CNN. They'll be priced at $59.99, and it'll all start happening this fall — thanks to Hasbro's new partnership with 3D printer company Formlabs.

Long-time Slashdot reader destinyland explains: "It wasn't until recently that two technologies came into play at once," Brian Chapman, Hasbro's head of global design and development tells CNN. "One is a very simple way to scan someone's face and head" — which can now be accomplished with a Hasbro mobile app (which also allows customers to select other customizations like specific costumes). "And then, a very affordable way to print that head in a one-off way" (so it can be affixed to the standard body of Hasbro's action figures).

Imagine your face on Star Wars and Marvel action figures, as well as Power Rangers, Ghostbusters — and more.

CNN adds that Hasbro say it will not sell user face data, and will delete it after 60 days.

In March, Microsoft enabled audio CD playback in the new version of Media Player, something that the old version had supported for pretty much as long as it had existed. And now, Microsoft is rolling out support for CD ripping in the new version of Media Player, presumably so that we can all convert our old Weezer and Matchbox 20 CDs into files we can copy over to our iPods and Zunes. From a report: By default, CDs can be ripped to AAC files at constant bitrates ranging between 96 and 320kbps. The WMA, FLAC, and ALAC formats are also supported. MP3 support and variable bitrate support, two features that are still included in the "Media Player Legacy" app, are notably absent.

An anonymous reader writes: There are three constants in life: death, taxes and the "lofi hip hop radio -- beats to relax/study to" YouTube stream. That is, until YouTube falsely hit the Lofi Girl channel with a DMCA takedown, bringing the beloved streams offline for the first time in over 2 years. With over 668 million views, the stream was one of YouTube's most popular places for people to go when they wanted to listen to calming, yet engaging music while studying or working. Listeners sometimes used the stream's live chat like an anonymized, distant study group, reminding each other to take breaks and drink water. So when the stream suddenly stopped, fans were worried.

[...] Yesterday, Lofi Girl addressed the sudden takedown in a tweet, stating that "the lofi radios have been taken down because of false copyright strikes." In response, fans of Lofi Girl circulated the tag #BringBackLofiGirl to get YouTube's attention. Some even went as far as to spam and troll FMC Music, the Malaysian label that allegedly issued the false copyright complaint, while others created fan art. Lofi Girl told TechCrunch that all of the channel's music is released through its record label, Lofi Records, so they have the necessary rights to share it. Because Lofi Girl has the proper rights to the music, YouTube determined that the account is not in violation of copyright laws. The platform responded to Lofi Girl on Twitter Monday, saying that the missing livestream videos should be reinstated in 24 to 48 hours.

If past precedent holds true, Lofi Girl's next stream will have to start again from the beginning, rather than as a continuation of the existing 2-year-long stream. In 2020, the channel faced a similar problem when an accidental suspension ended its 13,000-hour stream. In that case, YouTube also owned up to its mistakes and reinstated the account, but the same issues have apparently returned. [...] Today, in YouTube's reply to Lofi Girl, the company said that the takedown requests were "abusive," meaning that they were leveraged as an attack against the channel, rather than out of actual concern for copyright violations. This behavior is incredibly common, but platforms have struggled to determine when these reports are legitimate and when they're unsubstantiated. "This event has shone a light on an underlying problem on the platform: It's 2022, and there are countless smaller creators out there, many of which engaged in this discussion, that continue to be hit daily by these false claims on both videos and livestreams," Lofi Girl wrote in a tweet.

"We're shocked and disappointed to see that there's still not any kind of protection or manual review of these false claims," Lofi Girl wrote on Twitter. "At the end of the day, it was entirely out of our control, and the sad part is that there was no way to appeal beforehand/prevent it from happening."

Howard Altman writes via The Drive: In an effort to protect those with information about unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) and increase the influx of reports about them, Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wisc) has introduced (PDF) an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act. "The amendment would establish a process within the government for reporting UAPs and provide whistleblower-like protections," Gallagher's spokesman Jordan Dunn told The War Zone Thursday morning. For a multitude of reasons, U.S. troops and government contractors have traditionally been reluctant to come forward with information about these incidents, regardless of their validity. Beyond that, there have also been long-standing allegations that the government and defense contractors could be hiding previous UFO-related programs and evidence. This would allow those with information to come forward without retribution. Some have even posited that language like that in Gallagher's amendment could lead to "UFO disclosure."

In essence, it says that regardless of any previous written or oral non-disclosure agreements "that could be interpreted as a legal constraint on reporting by a witness of an unidentified aerial phenomena," those with information about UAPs, more commonly known as UFOs, would not be violating federal classified information laws if they come forward. The amendment also calls for the head of the new Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group (AOIMSG), tasked with investigating UAPs on behalf of the Defense Secretary and Director of National Intelligence, to establish "a secure system" for receiving reports of "any events relating to" UAPs and any government or government contractor activity or program related to UAPs. The reporting system shall be administered by "designated and widely known, easily accessible, and appropriately cleared Department of Defense and intelligence community employees or contractors" as part of AOIMSG, which is a much enhanced and more deeply mandated effort that replaced the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force.

Any information would first be screened "to prevent unauthorized public reporting or compromise of properly classified military and intelligence systems, programs, and related activity, including all categories and levels of special access and compartmented access programs, current, historical, and future." However, federal agencies and contractors working with the government would be precluded from taking actions, including suspending security clearances, for those who report UAP incidents and information. And those who are retaliated against "may bring a private civil action for all appropriate remedies, including injunctive relief and compensatory and punitive damages, against the Government or other employer who took the personnel action, in the United States Court of Federal Claims," the amendment states.

In a game called GeoGuessr, competitors try to pinpoint where in the world a Google Street View image has been taken. Some can do it in seconds. From a report: An unremarkable stretch of highway and trees, as seen on Google Maps' Street View, appeared on the screen. It could have been anywhere from Tasmania to Texas. "This is going to be south Philippines, somewhere on this road down here," Trevor Rainbolt said instantly, clicking on a location on a map of the world that was less than 11 miles from the spot. A road winding through woods was up next. Lake Tahoe? Siberia? "It looks like we're going to be in Switzerland here, unless we're in Japan. Yeah, we have to be in Japan here," Mr. Rainbolt said, correctly pinpointing the country.

Mr. Rainbolt has become the face of a fast-growing community of geography fanatics who play a game called GeoGuessr. The premise is simple: As you stare at a computer or phone, you're plopped down somewhere in the world in Google Street View and must guess, as quickly as you can, exactly where you are. You can click to travel down roads and through cities, scanning for distinguishable landmarks or language. The closer you guess, the more points you score. To some, Mr. Rainbolt's snap answers seem like wizardry. To him, they are simply the result of countless hours of practice and an insatiable thirst for geographic knowledge.

In a move that will undoubtedly draw severe criticism, movies from Studio Canal that customers have purchased on the PlayStation Store will be completely removed next month. From a report: The legal notice is published on PlayStation's German and Austrian websites where it reads (translated): "As of August 31, 2022, due to our evolving licensing agreements with content providers, you will no longer be able to view your previously purchased Studio Canal content and it will be removed from your video library. We greatly appreciate your continued support."

In other words, customers will lose access to movies such as Apocalypse Now, Django, John Wick, La La Land, Saw and The Hunger Games that they purchased on the PlayStation Store. Not rented, but purchased.

The wildly popular series Squid Game drew criticism for its English subtitles. Just how did those happen? CNET News: Subtitlers contend with unrealistic expectations, tight deadlines and competition from clunky machine translation. Often, their work goes underappreciated, under the radar. Sometimes Uludag would be sent a file to translate at 11 p.m. -- "and they would say we need it by 8 a.m." Without skilled subtitlers, movies such as historic Oscar winner Parasite are lost in translation. Yet the art of subtitling is on the decline, all but doomed in an entertainment industry tempted by cheaper emerging artificial intelligence technologies. Subtitlers have become a dying breed.

And this had been the predicament before the world started watching a little show called Squid Game. In 28 days, Squid Game leapfrogged Bridgerton as Netflix's most popular series ever. It also inadvertently started a global conversation about bad subtitles. While critics lauded the South Korean battle royale-themed drama for its polished production values, gripping story and memorable characters, many accused Netflix of skimping on the quality of Squid Game's English subtitles.

A prime example: Ali, the Pakistani laborer, shares a touching moment with Sang Woo, an embezzler who graduated from Korea's top university. Sang Woo suggests Ali call him hyung, instead of sajang-nim or "Mr. Company President." The term hyung literally translates as "older brother," a term used by a man to address an older man with whom he has formed a closer bond. That's Ali and Sang Woo. Yet, the line "Call me hyung" was translated as "Call me Sang Woo." A rare moment of compassion and humanity, amid all the gloom and gore, was lost. [...]

Yet Netflix, which abandoned its in-house subtitling program Hermes one year after its launch in 2017, is interested in a different area of translation: dubbing. It's not hard to see why. For example, 72% of Netflix's American viewers said they prefer dubs when watching Spanish hit Money Heist, Netflix's third most popular show ever. Unfairly criticized, underfunded and facing a lack of support from the entertainment industry, subtitlers are on the brink. At least the Squid Game controversy illuminated an unsung fact: Good subtitles are an exceptionally difficult art.

Monday Amazon posted a 15-second teaser trailer on Twitter for their upcoming Prime Video series The Lord of the Rings: the Rings of Power (premiering September 2nd) — drawing on two lavish one-minute trailers released earlier in the year.

"The first season of Amazon's show will be the most expensive season of television ever produced," reports IndieWire: Season 1 has a $465 million budget. Amazon Studios chief Jennifer Salke stated in May 2021 that she was "pretty confident" that the show will draw the required viewership to make the money worth spent.

Back in 2017, when it was reported that Amazon had bought the rights to "The Lord of the Rings" — winning a bidding war against Netflix — the number reported with that sale was $250 million. That number alone made it the most expensive television series ever, but later, The Hollywood Reporter reported that the whole series would end up costing more than $1 billion, due to production expenses (casting, producers, visual effects, etc.). "The Lord of the Rings" film trilogy's own Elijah Wood reacted to that particular figure during an interview, saying, "That's crazy to me." For context, the Peter Jackson trilogy grossed $2.92 billion worldwide. The combined budget for all three films was $281 million.

That $250 million rights deal for "The Lord of the Rings" also came with a five-season commitment for the series. A guaranteed five seasons should also guarantee at least one full story told from beginning to end, even though there's always the possibility of more, depending on the series' success. The deal also allowed for the potential of spin-off series, which could mean the potential for even more of Middle-earth outside just this adaptation. In November 2019, Deadline confirmed that Amazon had officially ordered a second season of the series and that it was already in the works. According to the report, the official early renewal means that there will be a shorter wait time between the first two seasons come release.

However, the series may not ever get out of the Second Age — which is, again, 3,441 years long, so it's got a lot to work with — as, according to Tolkien scholar and "The Lord of the Rings" consultant Tom Shippey, the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien has refused to grant Amazon permission to film anything other than the Second Age, as to not alter the history of the more fleshed out Third Age. "But you can add new characters and ask a lot of questions..."
The tagline of the newly-released trailer? "Nothing is evil...in the beginning."

In 2019 Shippey was quoted as saying the first season would have either 20 episodes or 22 episodes, though this year Amazon said a number "hasn't been officially announced."

And there's one other thing we know. There will be orcs (and some of their backstory), according to IGN's exclusive interview with the show's executive producer — and the head of its prosthetic department.

SFGate calls it "the most technologically advanced ride Disney has ever opened." The 18-minute journey involves a secret rebel base, interrogation from the First Order, uncomfortably close brushes with Kylo Ren and a daring rescue mission, and has sophisticated animatronics and a trackless ride system unlike anything else currently in Disneyland.

With all of those moving parts, though, the ride breaks down frequently.

"Rise of the Resistance" can sometimes break down multiple times a day, often for long stretches. The ride already has modifications for minor breaks, like a scene with a Kylo Ren animatronic that has a "b mode" where a broken piece of wall blocks off the malfunctioning Ren and he's shown on a screen instead. A room with cannons that dart out between ride cars has stopped the cannons from moving because they caused so many ride breakdowns.

But still, even with those fixes, larger problems happen. In fact, earlier this week, one Disneyland guest reported getting evacuated from Rise three times in the same day. "I've been on RoR 3 times today and have been evacuated every time," the person posted on Reddit. "Send thoughts and prayers!"
The article also cites data from the theme-park site Thrill Data, which estimates the ride's historical wait time average is 105 minutes — but which can shoot up after breakdowns to two or three hours.

The maximum wait time ever recorded was six hours and six minutes.