Residents of Middle-Earth should pop some Advil, as already-troubled New Line Cinema has been sued by the Tolkien estate, which seeks $150 million plus in damages in the mega-lawsuit. Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy did over $6 billion in world-wide receipts, but the estate claims that not a drop of gross profit participation has come its way. Moreover, the suit seeks further damages and, here’s the real killjoy, the right to take any other J.R.R. Tolkien works (i.e. The Hobbit films) elsewhere.
The estate released the following statement via its U.S. Counsel, Bonnie Eskenazi, practically writing the word “ludicrous” in the sky for all of the films’ and books’ fans to sigh at…
“New Line has brought new meaning to the phrase ‘creative accounting.’ I cannot imagine how on earth New Line will argue to a jury that these films could gross literally billions of dollars, and yet the creator’s heirs, who are entitled to a share of gross receipts, don’t get a penny.”
This huge “penny” hangs over last month’s once-optimistic news that fanboy favorite and Peter Jackson friend Guillermo del Toro was nearly a lock to direct both Hobbit flicks simultaneously. All of this after New Line and Peter Jackson settled their own notorious disagreement about boatloads of LOTR money back in December.
However, del Toro has more recently expressed doubt that the films are a sure thing, while playing up his multiple, rad spinning plates like Frankenstein, his H.P. Lovecraft pet project At the Mountains of Madness, and even Marvel’s Dr. Strange. What is going on over at New Line, I mean, really. This suit could not have come at a worse time, what with Business Week even suggesting that Warner Bros. fold the studio altogether.
Source Link: Variety
February 11th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
no doubt hunter, what the fuck is going on over at new line?! if in fact they did try to skip out on giving some cash to tolkien’s estate, then they deserve to face the fallout from all the disappointed people waiting for the hobbit, AND i hope the tolkien estate crushes them financially. they got some shady motherfuckers over at new line.
February 11th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
I just the read the book and really became excited about this possibility…now, my heart is a little crushed. Sad times.
To make a game reference, The Hobbit movies are turning into Duke Nukem Forever. Maybe they’ll get made in another dimension.
February 11th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
as much as this sucks, the tolkien estate definitely deserves the money. what is up, new line?
February 11th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Yeah, I agree with all of you (obvi). What blows my mind is the way the Tolkien estate emphasizes that they didn’t get a penny. That is a bold statement. How the eff is that even possible?
February 11th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
I worry that if the Hobbit gets taken to a new studio, that it won’t share the same tone, or cast, (or Peter Jackson), with LOTR. It could end up feeling like a very different sort of film and a very awkward fit with the rest of the series.
OTOH New Line is an ass and deserves to be screwed.
February 12th, 2008 at 9:58 am
It’s a little baffling that the Tolkien Estate
has not to this day receive any money for the
LOTR movies. It’s also baffling how the news
has not come out until now, perhaps there have
been secret demands and now the estate is finally
fed up and is goning public?
I’ve always thought New Line had some shady
people working in their financial department.
February 19th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
EXTREMELY DISSAPOINTED :( i have waited long for the hobbit movie to come out, either the tolkien family doesnt want the movie to come out(after all they could have waited until after the movie was made) or theyjust want some unneeded cash who know?
overall i am EXTREMELY, VERY, SAD
April 20th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
The reason the Tolkien estate didn’t receive any (or very little) money for the LOTR films is because Tolkien had sold the movie rights back in the mid- to late sixties. Obviously I don’t know the terms of the contract, but it is possible that there was a gross revenue clause or some such, but from what I’ve read it didn’t appear to have any.
The Hobbit movie rights may be a separate deal, or it may have been sold then to. If that’s the case, then the estate may have no legal right. That being said, legal obligations and moral obligations are two different things.
On a side note, Christopher Tolkien (J.R.R.’s son and executor) is a literalist regarding his father’s work. He objected to New Line filming the LOTR and tried to sue to have it stopped because it wasn’t true to the original. Ostensibly, the legal reason was that the estate felt the movies would devalue the books.