World’s most expensive TV show has budget of Rs 8300 crore; each episode costs more than Jawan, Stree 2, Animal, Dangal

This is the most expensive TV show ever to be made across globe. Each episode cost is equivalent to five Bollywood films.

Television has historically been viewed as the lesser sibling of cinema, often overshadowed by the grand scale of big-budget films on the big screen. This perception held true both in India and the West, where even the most popular TV shows seemed modest by comparison. However, the landscape transformed with the rise of streaming platforms, which introduced bigger budgets and expansive storytelling. Today, some of the most acclaimed series outshines even the most lavish films produced globally.

This is most the expensive series ever to be made…

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power holds the title of the most expensive TV show in history. Premiering on Amazon Prime Video in 2022, the first season was reported to have cost Amazon Studios a jaw-dropping 1 billion dollars (approximately Rs 8,300 crore). This figure encompasses the acquisition of rights and promotional expenses for the inaugural season. According to Collider, the production costs alone reached around 465 million dollars (over Rs 3,800 crore), making each of the eight episodes a remarkable investment at $58 million (about RS 480 crore) per episode.

The title of the most expensive film ever goes to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which boasted a production budget of 447 million dollars—still less than that of The Rings of Power. In contrast, the original Lord of the Rings trilogy had a total production cost of only 260 million dollars for all three films. The spinoff series has clearly set a new benchmark, surpassing its predecessors by a significant margin.

Indian cinema still trails significantly when it comes to production budgets. The most expensive Indian films—Kalki 2898 AD, RRR, and Adipurush—have budgets ranging from 70 to 75 million dollars, which is merely 1/15th of what The Rings of Power cost for its first season. The scale of this show is staggering; in fact, its per-episode production cost of 58 million dollars exceeds the entire budgets of some of India’s biggest hits, including Brahmastra Part One (45 million dollars), Singham Again (42 million dollars), and Jawan (36 million dollars).