Posted on 02/11/2008 5:48:45 PM PST by Pyro7480
LOS ANGELES - 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 hasn't paid it a penny from the estimated $6 billion the films have grossed worldwide.
The suit, filed Monday, claims New Line was required to pay 7.5 percent of gross receipts to Tolkien's estate and other plaintiffs, who contend they only received an upfront payment of $62,500 for the three movies before production began.
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 in Los Angeles Superior Court. If successful, it could block the long-awaited prequel to the films.
Robert Pini, a spokesman for Time Warner Inc.'s New Line, declined to comment.
The films — 2001's "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," 2002's "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers," and 2003's "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" — have reaped nearly $6 billion combined worldwide, according to the complaint.
The estimate includes everything from box office receipts to revenue from sales of DVDs and other products.
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 by New Line to make a two-film prequel based on "The Hobbit." "Rings" trilogy director Peter Jackson has already signed on to serve as executive producer on the project, which is tentatively slated to begin production next year, with releases planned for 2010 and 2011.
"The Tolkien trustees do not file lawsuits lightly, and have tried unsuccessfully to resolve their claims out of court," Steven Maier, an attorney for the Tolkien estate based in Britain, said in a statement. "New Line has not paid the plaintiffs even one penny of its contractual share of gross receipts despite the billions of dollars of gross revenue generated by these wildly successful motion pictures."
Maier also claims the film studio has blocked the Tolkien estate and the other plaintiffs from auditing the receipts of the last two films.
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.
Meanwhile, the original agreement terms were picked up by Hollywood producer Saul Zaentz, who produced an animated film in 1978 based on the "Rings" books, and eventually licensed the rights to make live-action films to New Line.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs said they have spent the years since the movies hit theaters trying to negotiate a settlement with New Line.
Other disputes over the film's earnings have surfaced in recent years.
In 2004, Zaentz sued New Line, claiming the studio cheated him out of $20 million in royalties from the film trilogy, which he optioned to New Line for a percentage of the movies' profits.
He and the film studio reached an out-of-court settlement a year later.
Jackson's production company also tangled with New Line in 2005 over profits from the films. A lawsuit was settled last year.
“Crud!” a narc screamed. “It’s her nibs!”
since when to studios pay royalties? is this a new thing?
Hopefully the Tolkien estate has it in writing that royalties were to be paid on GROSS profits (or some such).
I read some time ago that the author of the Silence of the Lambs got zilch because the contract stipulated it would pay only if there was a net profit... wa-la no net profit so the author got nada (or relatively little).
Hollywood = sleaze-ville.
Yeah, Tom Bombadil was a neat character. I also didn’t like how they altered some characters and scenarios, especially Faramir. For this reason, “The Fellowship of the Ring,” in my opinion, (especially in its Extended Edition), was the best adaptation of the source material.
Beorn is doable. He's just a "golden compass" black bear that is sometimes man, sometimes bear. The morphing part shouldn't be an issue.
In the for what it's worth category, I play Lord of the Rings online...besides the fact that I run into the main characters on occasion, one of the most fun moments was very early on after release and my RL wife an me were exploring. We found the spot where Bilbo got the trolls "stoned". It was very satisfying on a number of levels. The game is quite true to the books, I've enjoyed playing it.
Forth from the gate burst a hundred thousand rabid narcs swinging bicycle chains and tire irons, followed by drooling divisions of pop-eyed changelings, deranged zombies, and distempered werewolves. At their shoulders marched eight score heavily armored griffins, three thousand goose-stepping mummies, and a column of abominable snowmen on motorized bobsleds; at their flanks tramped six companies of slavering ghouls, eighty parched vampires in white tie, and the Phantom of the Opera. Above them the sky was blackened by the dark shapes of vicious pelicans, houseflies the size of two-car garages, and Rodan the Flying Monster. Through the portals streamed more foes of various forms and descriptions, including a six-legged diplodocus, the Loch Ness Monster, King Kong, Godzilla, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Beast with 1,000,000 Eyes, the Brain from Planet Arous, three different subphyla of giant insects, the Thing, It, She, Them, and the Blob. The great tumult of their charge could have waked the dead, were they not already bringing up the rear.
People involved in the entertainment industry are dishonest.
His intelligent animals would present the most difficult part I think. As I recall he had a house full of animal servants.
Tim, now a rather handsome six-foot carrot, laughed loudly and changed into a coiled parking meter. Frito, dizzy as a great wave of oatmeal flowed through his brain, grew heedless of the puddle of drool collecting in his lap. There was a noiseless explosion between his ears and he watched with terror as the room began stretching and pulsating like Silly Putty in heat. Frito’s ears began to grow and his arms changed into badminton rackets. The floor developed holes out of which poured fanged peanut brittle. A score of polka-dotted cockroaches danced a buck and wing on his stomach. A Swiss cheese waltzed him twice around the room, and his nose fell off. Frito opened his mouth to speak and a flock of flying earthworms escaped. His gall bladder sang an aria and did a little tap dance on his appendix. He began to lose consciousness, but before it ebbed completely, he heard a six-foot waffle iron giggle, “If yoo dig it now, jes’ wade till th’ rush hits you!
In order to do justice to Bombadil’s pervasive influence in the history of Middle Earth, the movies would have had to be 2-3 hours longer. I was disappointed, too, until I realized how hard it would have been to create all the needed backstory of Ol’Tom that Tolkein is able to imply and to scatter through the books.
All in all, I believe that Jackson and his writers did a spectacular job of bringing this story to the public. In order to do a better job, someone will need to write a book. Oh, wait, I guess someone already has!
Not too pleased with this myself, but it is known as 'dramatic compression'. Way too many characters in the novels to include them all in the movies. I was rather fond of Prince Imrahil of Dol Amroth.
Ballot-box stuffing? So, the Boggies are a bunch of Dems.
Then there was the hatchet-job they did, to Faramir.
Maybe before the lawsuit they could be tarred and feathered....
That seems like just a Tolkien amount.
Oh man, I haven't read that book since it first came out. What fun! I like the part where they're in Rivendell (or whatever passes for it in the book) and eating dirt and twigs, 'the usual food for people without a visible means of support.' Something like that. Funny stuff.
More than $$ are at stake. They need to £ away on this point.
OUCH.
OUCH again.
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