No they wouldn’t have because they sold the movie rights 40 years ago under the old system and that contract is still legal and still enforceable and they’ve been gipped by a slimy studio.
7.5% of receipts is a tidy sum that they haven’t seen a penny of and it’s been 3 years since the last LOTR was made. Somebody belongs in freaking jail, IMO.
Actually it has been more than five years since the last LOTR movie won the Academy Award.