Oringially published on JRR Tolkien Examiner on 7/17/09.
New details have come to light concerning the lawsuit by the heirs of JRR Tolkien, the late author of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, against film production company New Line Cinema.
It has been confirmed that the suit will go before a jury in October, and may impact plans by New Line and Time Warner to shoot a two-part adaptation of The Hobbit, now in pre-production in New Zealand.
Tolkien sold the film rights to his novels in 1969, under a deal that promised him 7.5% of receipts. The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, released in 2001, 2002 and 2003, has generated an incredible $6 billion-with-a-”b” — and Tolkien’s heirs claim they have not received a shilling.
Tolkien’s family and the charitable Tolkien Trust seek more than $220 million in compensation. They also want the option to terminate further rights to Tolkien’s work.
HarperCollins Publishers, which owns the publishing rights to Tolkien’s work, is also a plaintiff in the suit.
Film producer Saul Zaentz, who purchased the movie rights from Tolkien, later sold those rights to New Line. United Artists also claimed distribution rights; its corporate owner, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, is working with New Line and TIme Warner on the Hobbit films.
The JRR Tolkein’s children really are the limit! For donkeys years they’ve point blank refused to have much to do with their father’s work. More recently Christopher Tolkein has cashed in on his father’s work (and genius), but his pathetic, tedious and unreadable attempts at “collating” and publishing his father’s unfinished work is just jumping on the bandwagon.
Yes, New Line should pay up, but for Christopher Tolkein and his sister to threaten the filming of the Hobbit by the only man capable of doing anything like justice to the book is downright vindictive and an insult to the millions of Tolkein fans, most of whom love the Jackson LOTR trilogy. But then, Christopher Tolkein never did care for his father’s fans. He even refused to speak to his own son Simon and grandson Royd when they supported Peter Jackson. I hope he get’s a pittance for his nastiness.
[...] The case was expected to go to trial in October. [...]