Tolkien Estate Sues New Line Cinema (Failure to Pay Royalties Apparently)

Yahoo! News (AP) ^ | 2/11/2008 | Alex Veiga

[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.

[Cheburashka]

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.

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Sounds like the Democrat convention in late summer.

[MarkL]

If the contract was for payment to be made based on profit, we all know that they would never see a dime. However, the contract appears to be based on the "gross." Now if New Line prove they had no "gross" that would indeed be an accounting miracle. I hope this goes to a jury and the jury slams New Line.

If it's on the gross, I'll be happy to sign an affadavit stating that I saw each movie twice in the theaters, and then bought the special, extended edition DVD sets as well. Just from that, I figure that I spent over $120 over 3 years on those movies.

Mark

[MarkL]

The movies were pretty good, though I was disappointed that they cut out Tom Bombadil. They did stay relatively true to the tales though, and kept a good sense of right/wrong and good/evil.

What really got me was leaving out the "scourging of the shire," although it was alluded to in Loth Lorien (and seen in the bounty at the sack of Eisengard), as something that might come to be. It seemed to me that was terribly important in showing that the typical Hobbit attitude (keep to yourselves, and nothing bad will happen to you) just doesn't work when confronting evil.

I always felt that this was a major point of the allegory, and leaving it out left out a major point of the tail.

Mark

[Verloona Ti]

I don’t have a copy of the book handy, but my favorite line was when a character died, and the boggies danced a “Jig of mourning”.

[Pilsner]

I'm still waiting for a movie or three based on The Silmarillion.

[mowowie]

A lot of actors from the old shows got jipped.
The Giligans Island guys got paid once for the initial airing of an episode and for something like 2 subsequent airings of repeats of that particular episode. After that the studio made a fortune on decades of repeats while the actors made zilch.

[MissouriConservative]

“The MPAA are such fine, upstanding people, so concerned about respecting copyright”

Yep. They will sue your pants off and take all your money if you download a movie and don’t pay. Now they are not paying the owner of a copyright. Wonder how this will play out in court. A person being sued by the MPAA can point out the hypocrisy and should walk away free as a bird.

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

There was a great story I read once. Some writer saw Adolph Zukor, the founder of Paramount, in the commissary celebrating something like his 96th birthday (he lived to be 103 and died in 1976), and Zukor was busting a gut laughing at how he'd screwed Mark Twain on a story deal.

Twas ever thus.

[tumblindice]

And the Ents still want their women.

[Hegewisch Dupa]

They have been sporting wood for quite a while now...

[Azeem]

At least we have another Star Wars movie coming August 15th. At least the animated characters will go with the stale dialogue.

Unless someone OTHER than Lucas wrote it.

[tumblindice]

It’s that Morning Wood Elf playing Cupid again . . .

[discostu]

All the production houses have a problem with paying out, rightly owed or not they just plain don’t like writing checks.

[discostu]

They’re always like that. According to Warner Brothers Babylon 5 is still in the red, forget the fact that the show cost $1 million an episode to make and the DVDs have hauled in well over $500 million (then there’s the initial broadcast fees, syndication fees, and merchandising), B5 is still in the red, just ask them.

[Telepathic Intruder]

Star Wars, huh? And then Star Trek in December. I’m sure they’ll screw them both up, though. Hollywood just can’t do anything right anymore...

[Azeem]

Animated Clone Wars movie:

http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2008-02-11-clone-wars-main_N.htm

[steve-b]

Time for New Line to re-jigger the books so that they don't show a profit.

Maybe they can switch the labels on the Lord of the Rings ledgers and the The Golden Compass ledgers.

[AppyPappy]

“The only thing in this world more mythical than hobbits are residuals in Hollywood.”

True or not?

[steve-b]

This ring, no other, was made by the elves
Who'd pawn their own mother to grab it themselves
Ruler of creeper, mortal, and scallop
This is a sleeper that packs quite a wallop
The power almighty rests in this Lone Ring
The power, alrighty, for doing your Own Thing
If broken or busted, it cannot be remade
If found, send to Sorhed (the postage is prepaid)

[Deb]

Residuals are what allows continued life and happiness in Hollywood. It's the percentage of merchandising and net grosses that are mythical.

According to New Line and Warner Bros. the LOTR trilogy has never shown a profit. I know. I get the yearly "reports".