Tolkien Trust Sues New Line, May Kill "Hobbit"

[Undertaker #59]

The AP is reporting that the Tolkien Trust and HarperCollins are <a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ihcwC49Wj4qnTzZZ1hIYo6q7Xd8QD8UOD47G0">suing New Line Cinema</a> for $150 million in compensatory damages, unspecified punitive damages, and a court order revoking New Line's rights to produce any more films on Tolkien properties. The Tolkien Trust says that New Line paid them only $62,500 to make 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy of films &mdash; instead of the agreed-upon 7.5 percent of gross receipts of all film-related revenue. The suit may set back, if not kill, a film adaptation of Lord of the Rings prequel 'The Hobbit,' which Peter Jackson had recently signed up to make after <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/27/business/media/27movie.html">his own legal row</a> with the studio over payment for the sequels.</pre>

[JD10367]

62 grand?!? Are they for real? They made, what, like, a billion dollars in box office gross and they only forked over 62 grand? I'd sue 'em too...

[TrueBeliever]

This doesn't surprise me, considering Peter Jackson had to sue them to get what he was owed. Isn't that lawsuit still going on?

Actually this whole mess is starting to sound like the situation when the first Superman came out and everyone sued everyone else, and it took damn near 30 years to get that franchise back on track.

[TBL]

I blame piracy.

New line execs must have their heads buried deep in their asses to let this happen. The Hobbitt, especially with jackson as producer, has to be good for at least 250 mil at the box office alone.

They've made roughly 6 BILLION off of the LOTR trilogy and related products. 7.5% of which is somewhere around 450 million.

And they paid only 65 grand?

They deserve whatever they get.

[Baron Samedi]

There has to be more to this than meets the eye. I suspect New Line paid someone a lot of money, according to how they read the contract, and the Trust is saying they paid the wrong person, or were supposed to pay the Trust as well.

We would have heard about this years ago if it were that simple. SOMEONE got paid, or this suit wouldn't have taken so long, IMO.

[Hawg73]

I almost hope they don't make The Hobbit, although I would definitely watch it.

I was one of those people that read LOTR first and then the Hobbit and some of Tolkein's other stuff.

The Hobbit is pretty good, but pales in comparison. I think I was disappointed only because of the brilliance of LOTR. A young Bilbo fights the dragon Smaug. Only so much they can do with that is my best guess.

It is something like comparing Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" to "Dark Side of the Moon". Probably 1 in 50 Floyd fans liked "Wish" better, but.....it wasn't.

New Line sounds like a bunch of crooks. 62 grand?

[Baron Samedi]

I almost hope they don't make The Hobbit, although I would definitely watch it.

I was one of those people that read LOTR first and then the Hobbit and some of Tolkein's other stuff.

The Hobbit is pretty good, but pales in comparison. I think I was disappointed only because of the brilliance of LOTR. A young Bilbo fights the dragon Smaug. Only so much they can do with that is my best guess.

It is something like comparing Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" to "Dark Side of the Moon". Probably 1 in 50 Floyd fans liked "Wish" better, but.....it wasn't.

New Line sounds like a bunch of crooks. 62 grand?

That's because the Hobbit was a Children's book when it was first written. It was never meant to be brilliant or complex, just fun and imaginative, which it was.

It became such a popular story, he rewrote The Hobbit in novel form, adding some adventure and filler, but the story itself remains, in essence, a children's book.