The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Poweris Amazon’s biggest and flashiest bet on content that can lure people onto its Prime Video platform, and it’s currently being promoted as one of the most ambitious television or streaming productions ever. Nevertheless, that’s not what anyone would imagine judging from the latestRings of Powertrailer.
The mainThe Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Powerteaser, uploaded on Prime Video’s YouTube channel, has amassed nearly 10 million views in just 5 days, sounds good, right? Quite far from it, as reality shows a massive amount of dislikes compared to the positive reactions to the trailer. Not that most people would notice, as YouTube’s famed “Dislike” button got its public counter removed almost a year ago as the platform allegedly sought to protect content creators from “harassment, and reduce dislike attacks.” However, with the help of some special web extensions, it seems like Amazon is getting savagely ratioed on YouTube.
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As Forbes notes, the proportion of likes to dislikes seems to be beyond the usual numbers for internet trollery. At the time of writing,The Rings of Powertrailer shows only 63,000 likes versus a staggering 230,000 dislikes for a series that’s been criticized by fans of J.R.R. Tolkien’s literary work or Peter Jackson’s movies. AlthoughThe Rings of Powerwill explore vital plot points, such asthe relationship between Elrond and Galadriel, the show is not based on source material written by Tolkien.
All that, combined with the reported one billion dollar budget Amazon set apart for the series and the lack of experience showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay possess, is what has many fans worried about what will unfold in Middle-Earth. Suffice to say, theRings of Powertrailer hides many easter eggsfor die-hardLOTRfans to uncover. However, the numbers seem to show a pretty negative reaction early on.
While Jackson’s take on The Hobbit is seen by fans as a lesser body of works, hisLord of the Ringstrilogy remains widely regarded as one of the best film adaptations of such a complex story out there, and also one of the best movie trilogies ever. There’s plenty of speculation and concern about howRings of Powermight affect the lore of Middle-Earthwhen the series finally comes out six weeks from now.
YouTube has shown no sign of backing down on its decision to remove the dislike counter, although some suggest that decision was made to protect advertisers, rather than users or small creators. AsNetflix’s takes onResident EvilandCowboy Bebophave shown, messing with beloved properties rarely satisfies fans.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Powerwill release exclusively on Amazon Prime Video starting July 14, 2025.
