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New Line & Tolkien Finally Settle Lord of the Rings Litigation

by Alex Billington
September 8, 2009

Though the exact terms of the settlement were not released, THR reports today that New Line Cinema, the Tolkien estate, and publisher Harper Collins have finally settled the big lawsuit over profits from the Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films. For those of you who aren't enraptured with the legal goings-on of Hollywood, the Tolkien estate had sued New Line for an approximated $150 million in damages last year for failing to pay the 7.5 percent of the gross they were contractually obligated to receive from the three films -- which, need I remind you, netted around $6 billion combined. Finally all Tolkien lawsuits are now settled!

Commenting on the settlement, Christopher Tolkien said: "The Trustees regret that legal action was necessary, but are glad that this dispute has been settled on satisfactory terms that will allow the Tolkien Trust properly to pursue its charitable objectives. The Trustees acknowledge that New Line may now proceed with its proposed films of The Hobbit."

Included in the suit, the Tolkien estate had requested a court order that would have given them the right to terminate any rights New Line had to other Tolkien properties, including the Jackson-produced, Guillermo del Toro-directed The Hobbit. Thankfully that struggle is no more. This finally wraps up all outstanding lawsuits surrounding Tolkien and various companies that would've stalled The Hobbit's development, as reported previously, since this could've shut that down before shooting. Good news all around, and good riddance it's all behind us. Now to look forward to The Hobbit! Head over to Deadline Hollywood for more.

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Keith

Good to hear
Corran Horn

This is pretty much what I expected. I figured there would be a settlement, and it was only a question of how much would leave everyone satisfied.
Robbie

Good news =)
James

Good. Now someone get the extended editions on blu-ray, finish the Hobbit and lets cal lit a day.
Janny

and now the trustees may commence sleeping on top of a pile of money, with many beautiful ladies
Shige

I am just curious. What will the "Tolkien estate" and the rest of money leeching assholes do with all the money. Will it go to some spoiled brats to buy drugs alcohol and easy living for some spoiled housewives etc or what do they "absolutely need" the money for besides a badly kept website ? Are they actually doing anything to preserve or develop the world that Tolkien him self has created ? Because so far all they have been doing for the past 50 years or so is to try to get as much cash as possible from as many sourses as possible and to hinder any movie or anime projects ever existed.
beavis4play

i'm with #4..........we want the EXTENDED versions of the 3 films on bluray. there is no way i'll buy the lacking theatrical versions.
David Banner

#4 and #7 Those Theatrical, non-extended versions will have to be given away, has to be the worst decision made in a long time, who the hell does not want to buy/watch the extend versions?? The extend versions might be some of the most selling Blu-Rays when they come out, BUT! And that is a big BUT, I have seen a preview of what LotR will look like on Blu-Ray, it was really sad. The clearity of the picture is so 'good' it just looks awful, it looks more CGI then ever, could be some magic has been applied here(xtra grain?) to hide the fact real humans look like they are standing infront of a greenscreen, no illusion there. This was 1-2 years ago, much could have been changed. Has LotR aired in HD in the US? How does it look? #6 I believe this is correct Any news on this guy who was gunna make 1-2 movies from The Silmarillion? His plan was to take 2 of the stories and develop into seperate films. Silmarillion(complete) would most likely a 12h movie, or 20 1h TV-series in size imo. Good book, go read it
cdawg

Midgets rule!!
jules

How greedy can one studio be? Both Peter Jackson AND the Tolkien estate had to take legal action to obtain their entitle share of the revenue. The movies made like 3 billion at the cinemas, not to mention dvd's and merchandising. New Line, leading the way in studio greed.
bozo

Still... glad I'm not getting that bill.