[XJarhead]

Apparently, Tolkien was a bit shrewder when selling the movie rights than is commonly believed. I can't recall where I read the article, but his estate apparently gets a cut if the movie makes over a certain percentage of its costs. So it appears that his estate will be doing quite well....

[My2Cents]

Interesting. I had read that all but one of his heirs were opposed to the LOTRs movie series. Maybe their cut isn't as great as they'd like it to be.

[BradyLS]

Apparently, Tolkien was a bit shrewder when selling the movie rights than is commonly believed. I can't recall where I read the article, but his estate apparently gets a cut if the movie makes over a certain percentage of its costs. So it appears that his estate will be doing quite well....

For the estates sake, I hope they make money. But the suits in Hollywood are notorious for making successful blockbusters look like they actually lose money. The trick is to get a percentage of the box office (gross) profits, not the net. A star from the first Batman movie was pissed because they got an absurdly small payout because supposedly they took a percentage of the net and not the gross.

[John Farson]

Even if the estate doesn't receive a dime from the movie, they will make a killing with the renewed interest in the story. A good number of folks won't care to wait until next Christmas to learn the fate of the Fellowship.