Or no Hobbits at all...

[davem]

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080211/tolki...suit.html?.v=2

- The estate of "Lord of the Rings" creator J.R.R. Tolkien is suing the film studio that released the trilogy based on his books, claiming the company failed to pay a cut of gross profits for the blockbuster films.

The writer's estate, a British charity dubbed The Tolkien Trust, and original "Lord of the Rings" publisher HarperCollins filed the lawsuit against New Line Cinema on Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court.

The lawsuit claims New Line was required to pay 7.5 percent of gross receipts from the films to Tolkien's estate and the other plaintiffs. A call to a spokesman for New Line, a unit of Time Warner Inc., was not immediately returned....

The plaintiffs seek more than $150 million in compensatory damages, unspecified punitive damages and a court order giving the Tolkien estate the right to terminate any rights New Line may have to make films based on other works by the author, including "The Hobbit."

Such an order would scuttle plans New Line has in the works to make a two-film prequel based on "The Hobbit."

Well, I thought it was funny....

[Sir Kohran]

Hold on a sec - Christopher Tolkien spends year remaining neutral on the topic of the movies and has nothing to do with them, but now the companies he is related to are demanding money from the movies? Isn't this somewhat contradictory?

Could someone better explain this, please..

[davem]

Well, it looks like New Line have tried to get out of paying the Estate & the Publisher what they're due to - mush like what seems to have happened with Jackson.

Note though - this is simply aimed at stopping New Line making any sequels...

[William Cloud Hicklin]

If the Estate is in fact legally owed millions of dollars, it would be a breach of fiduciary duty for its executors not to try to enforce payment of the debt. That's a fundamental obligation imposed by the law regardless of personal feelings.

It's worth noting that The Tolkien Trust (which holds the US copyrights of LR) is the charitable arm of the Estate.

[Quempel]

I was under the impression Tolkien sold all his rights to LoTR/Hobbit, so why is the estate getting anything at all? And if he did sell all his rights, what claim can they make to NL. Doesn't Saul Zaentz own the rights? And if anything shouldn't the estate being suing him instead of NL?

[davem]

Originally Posted by Quempel

I was under the impression Tolkien sold all his rights to LoTR, so why is the estate getting anything at all?

This report has more detail http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...4S35.DTL&tsp=1

Main point is:

The lawsuit claims J.R.R. Tolkien established a trust through which he signed a film deal in 1969 with United Artists. After Tolkien's death, his heirs created the charity in the author's name.