Suit seeks to terminate "Hobbot" films

The Hollywood Reporter reveals that J.R.R. Tolkien’s estate has filed a lawsuit that, if it prevails, could prevent New Line Cinema from producing their planned two-film adaptation of THE HOBBIT, Tolkein’s predecessor to the mammoth epic LORD OF THE RINGS.

 On Monday, J.R.R. Tolkien’s estate — a British charity called the Tolkien Trust — filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court against New Line seeking a court order terminating any rights the studio has to any of the author’s works, including “Hobbit.”

The Tolkien Trust and the author’s original publisher, HarperCollins, claim that New Line has committed “accounting chicanery” by, among other things, inflating the cost of each film in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy by more than $100 million and refusing to allow an audit of the second and third films in the “Rings” series.

The plaintiffs allege that New Line and Peter Jackson’s Katja Motion Picture Group owe them at least $150 million in gross profits from the billion-dollar “Rings” trilogy, which has grossed $6 billion worldwide, a figure that encompasses both boxoffice and DVD sales, according to the complaint.

New Line has refused comment regarding the suit, which claims New Line has violated the original agreement regarding rights to Tolkien’s work (first drawn up in 1969 for United Artists) and have therefore forfeited any claim to making more motion pictures based on those works.
New Line had planned to have the first of two HOBBIT films set for a 2010 release. Theoretically, they could proceed with production in spite of the lawsuit, but they risk losing their rights to the completed film.
This is not the first lawsuit affecting THE HOBBIT. Peter Jackson, who directed the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy, signed on to exec produce the prequels only after settling his own disagreement over profits with New Line. Meanwhile, New Line, which has fallen on ill-times, box office-wise, since the RINGS trilogy was completed, has come under scrutiny from its owner, Time Warner, which is considering whether transfer all of New Line’s functions to Warner Brothers.

Leave a Reply