‘The Lord Of The Rings’ IP Broker Says Franchise Can Be As Big As Marvel & ‘Star Wars’, Reveals New Information about Embracer Group Deal – Mipcom Cannes

The Lord of the Rings franchise can reach the $6B-plus scale of Marvel and Star Wars, according to the man who brokered the sale of the IP to Sweden’s Embracer Group, who revealed new information about the deal.

ACF Investment Bank CEO Thomas Dey told Mipcom Cannes Lord of the Rings is one of around six “pieces of IP of this magnitude on the planet,” which will now have its potential unlocked by Embracer. Embracer picked up the motion picture, video game, board game, merchandizing, theme parks and stage production rights relating to The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit franchises over the summer as well as matching rights in other Middle-earth-related literary works authorized by the Tolkien Estate and HarperCollins, which have yet to be explored. The timing was good, coming a few weeks before Amazon’s Rings of Power TV series launched.

Related Story

'The Handmaid's Tale' EP Matthew Hastings Developing Spanish Civil War Drama With 'Kissing Booth' Producer iGeneration Studios

“I think this asset has the ability to get to [Marvel and Star Wars’] scale,” Dey told a packed Mipcom keynote. “Someone has just needed to have the belief that this can be as ambitious as it can be.”

While financials of the transaction, which completed in the past few weeks, have not been disclosed, Dey joked: “We let bidders come in and make bids, gave guide prices on our thoughts and then [Embracer] halved that.”

Embracer’s focus is likely to be on gaming, which CEO Lars Wingefors said is the 15,000-staff public company’s “strongest area of growth and monetization,” as he spoke alongside Dey. The company also bought The Mask owner Dark Horse Comics late last year.

“Having 10,000 developers in the group means we are thinking about what we can do with the IP going forward and this justifies value for us,” he added. “And then we have a number of amazing opportunities to do ‘transmedia’ projects. We can power creatives to succeed with their goals and dreams.”

Dey also spotlighted new information about the deal, one of the largest M&A contracts to be signed in the past few years.

When Middle-earth Enterprises, a division of the Saul Zaentz Company, first approached ACF, the deal was so secret that “we were interviewed in the dark and didn’t know what the asset was,” he said.

“It was so disguised when it came through the door,” he added. “This is a long established asset that has gone through multiple people’s hands and we had to make sure we understood what we had and didn’t have.”

Dey flagged the immense complexity of a deal for a franchise that has moved from the Tolkien Estate to ICM to Middle-Earth enterprises and now Embracer, and said some “grey areas” are still being ironed out.

“It’s the nature of the beast that a lot of deals are done with high-fives and handshakes,” he added. “People had assumed certain things along the way so not everything was crystal clear. In America you can sort these things in court but even then you don’t get complete clarity.”

Dey said the deal is reflective of a major shift in the TV and film world that is seeing a move from “peace and escapism” to “immersive experience,” and Embracer is well positioned to take advantage.

“Metaverses are being discussed but gaming has already created one – you disappear for 10 hours and are active in that environment,” he added. “So I think we will lean forward into that entertainment over the next decade and will look for other ways to do that. Audiences are demanding more than the ‘lean back’ approach.”

ACF has brokered multiple major deals over the years including the sale of The Crown producer Left Bank to Sony. It most recently oversaw the $125M securitization of Simon Cowell’s Got Talent franchise.

Must Read Stories

The Box Office Needs A Hero: DC Pic Raging To $135M Global Bow; Review

Beats Estimates, Considers Content Spend Boost; Ad-Tier, ‘Glass Onion’ Expectations

Anna Faris Reveals Identity Of Director She Had Accused Of Inappropriate Behavior

Scientology Center Stage In Danny Masterson Rape Trial; Kevin Spacey Case Update

Read More About:

Source: Read Full Article