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The Crown to Game of Thrones: Most expensive international shows on TV!

With more money being spent on special effects, locations, and star power, small-screen series are now mounted on a massive canvas

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(Clockwise) Lord Of The Rings (the film), The Crown, Game of Thrones, The Get Down, Sense8 and Orange Is The New Black
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The Lord Of The Rings TV series has been revealed to be the most expensive show ever being made at a whopping $1 billion, proving that we’re in the ‘golden’ age of television. Whether it’s direction, actors, VFX, or editing, the bar is set high in a bid to create extraordinary content. And in most cases, it takes an eye-popping amount to get the ball rolling. After Hrs draws up a list of some of the most jaw-dropping expensive TV fare...

LORD OF THE RINGS TV SERIES 

If the movie franchise was made on a mammoth-scale and budget, the LOTR TV series is going be no less. Comprising five seasons, it will cost Amazon over $1 billion, making it the most expensive TV series in the history of the small screen. This amount is approximately thrice the budget of original film trilogy. 

The staggering figure comes keeping in mind factors like casting, producers and visual effects. The show will follow the events before the first volume, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring. As per the contract, the series must undergo production within two years. 

THE CROWN

This ambitious period drama (2016 to present), which chronicles the early years of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, is the most expensive TV show till date. The grand sets, for example, a life-size replica of the Buckingham Palace and around 7,000 costumes including a $35,000 recreation of Queen Elizabeth’s wedding dress and more contributed to the first season reportedly costing $130 million. The Crown will span over six seasons, with 10 episodes in each. So, go ahead and do the math.

GAME OF THRONES

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the grandeur of this iconic period action drama (2011 to present) began with each episode costing about $6 million. HBO believably spent between $5 million to $10 million on its pilot alone. As the seasons progressed, the cost per episode apparently went up to $10 million. Unlike many TV series, the whopping budget isn’t spent on the cast but filming at exotic locations, erecting huge sets and shooting on a massive scale. The upcoming eighth season will have the largest per-episode budget ever to be given for a TV show, pegged at an eye-watering cost of over $15 million each!

THE GET DOWN

Battling problems and delays, this musical drama television series (2016 to 2017) had just one season, split into part 1, which included six episodes and part 2, which had five episodes. The show follows the rise of hip-hop and disco music in ‘70s New York through the eyes of a bunch of teenagers. Initially, The Get Down had a budget of around $7.5 million per episode. But director Baz Luhrmann of Romeo + Juliet and The Great Gatsby fame is known to be a perfectionist and landed clashing with producers, causing many changes causing the budget to overshoot, costing $120 million.

SENSE8

This sci-fi drama series (2015 till date) by the Wachowski siblings of The Matrix fame, follows eight strangers living in different cultures, across the globe are interconnected mentally and emotionally. Sense8 is shot on location across the globe in 16 cities and 13 countries. And that’s what contributes majorly to its steep production cost, besides visual effects, reportedly $9 million per episode and a gross of $108 million for a season comprising 12 episodes.

HOUSE OF CARDS

The critically-acclaimed political drama (2013 till date) is known for its fine performances by its cast mainly, acting powerhouses Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright. Initially, House of Cards reportedly had a budget of $50 million for its first season, costing Netflix a budget $100 million for the first two seasons. The show was a hit from the start and its cost has gone up since. The streaming company, dropped Spacey in 2017, following sexual misconduct allegations against him, who allegedly took $500,000 per episode.  

MARCO POLO

This period drama series is inspired by the famous medieval explorer, his early years in the court of Kublai Khan, founder of the Yuan dynasty, and was shot in Italy and Kazakhstan. The show reportedly cost a sky-high amount of $90 million for its first season consisting 10 episodes. However, despite the scale of production including elaborate sets, costumes, etc. Marco Polo failed to gain popularity. The show was renewed for a second season reportedly costing $110 million but failed to gather steam once again and it finally got canned.

ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK

This comedy-drama (2013 till date) is based on a true story, memoirs of a woman who spent time in a women’s prison. The critically-acclaimed show that won many awards is one of Netflix’s most popular and anticipated shows. Orange Is The New Black cost a cool $50 million a season initially and has had a run of five seasons so far. It comes as no surprise that the show has been renewed for a sixth and seventh season, too.

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