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So now they own something which they paid for and cannot exercise their rights without risking either public ridicule and rejection of their film, or, a serious lawsuit which could bankrupt them. Talk about your rock and a hard place. They did not put themselves there. The publication of the book length SIL did - intended or unintended - the results are the same.
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Again, tough.
Zaentz did not buy the underlying copyright in The Lord of the Rings. He bought the right to make movies. The primary copyright in Middle-earth never changed ownership, and Zaentz has bugger-all room to complain about whatever Tolkien-plus-heirs do. Including 'diminishing his value.'
You asked for the Denzel Washington treat ment. Very well, then.
Copyright is a form of intellectual property. Copyright law is a branch of property law. Now, what is property? Property is any thing, real or personal, tangible or intangible, which one person may possess to the exclusion of all others. Copyright is the right of an author to reproduce his own work, and (most importantly) exclude anyone else from doing so.
Like all property, copyright is alienable: it gan be given, bartered, sold etcetera. It is divisible: one can sell a part of a copyright and retain the rest. With me so far?
If the author sells film rights, he is actually selling a license under which the purchaser has the right to make film adaptations. After selling that small piece, however, the author retains all the remaining copyright. It's still his, to do with as he wants.
That might include writing a sequel or other work related to the first work in such a way that it might be classed as 'derivative' were another person to do so. But of course the author owns his characters, incidents and settings and can do with them whatever he bloody well likes. He *owns* them: the sequel is derivative of the primary copyright, not the alienated film license. If he writes a sequel, then it is a new work, and the owner maintains absolute copyright ownership of that too.
No problems so far?
Now, notice that all of this is concerned strictly with *ownership*- it is, after all, property law. "Value" simply doesn't enter in. Property law is only concerned with who owns what, not what it's worth. If the author writes a sequel, it doesn't matter a fart in a tornado whether it might negatively affect the value of film rights he's already sold. His right is exclusive and unaffected- which is to say that the film-rights buyer of Book 1 has no claim nor restraint on the sequel just because the value of his property might be affected. It doesn't matter. The law only looks to ownership, not value.
Suppose that I own a large tract of land, and you approach me to buy one acre on the corner to build a house. We agree on a price and close the sale. (Assume no restrictive covenants or zoning laws, or verbal undertakings)
A few years later on, I elect to develop the rest of my tract as a combination hog-farm/sewage treatment plant/toxic waste dump. Would your house value be affected? Yep. Down the toilet. Would you have a claim against me? Absolutely none whatsoever. I sold you one acre and one acre you own. End of story.
Now, that's a deliberately extreme example. Let's look at another one. Suppose Hot Young Author writes a bestseller. Studio A negotiates and executes a film deal for it.
Suppose that subsequently, HY Author writes a sequel. Or an unrelated book. Or several. Whatever- but they're all rubbish. The kid is a flash-in-in-the-pan, a one hit wonder. His stock in literary circles takes a dive, he doesn't get invited to the good parties any more, and he's universally now regarded as a talentless hack. Think Barton Fink.
Does Studio A have a claim based on its now-worthless movie rights? Nope. They still own what they bought.
Or let's suppose Studio B buys film rights to the [ghostwritten] autobiography of a star athlete- let's call him, say, ummmm....OJ. After inking the deal, OJ does something damaging to his public image, like, oh I dunno, carving up his ex-wife and her friend with a knife. Public enemy number one. Plug pulled on biopic. Film rights worthless.
Does Studio B have a claim? Nope. They still own what they bought.