Lawsuit by Tolkien Estate may halt The Hobbit

[PrinceOfTheHalflings]

Originally Posted by Mithalwen

Thanks PotH that is a better article all round.

I never said that a writer can't control a film, and I can imagine that the late Mr Crichton was better placed than most to negotiate contracts to his satisfaction, but it isn't that common. If the film rights reverted, well things could certainly get interesting.

I had wondered for a while if the film rights were sold "freehold". Seems barmy that they could be open ended while the author's copyright is limited. So thanks for that insight..

You're welcome, Mithalwen! I do agree that at this point it's extremely unlikely that Christopher Tolkien would want to be reviewing film screenplays! One of the younger Tolkiens might want to do so though.

JRRT certainly spent some time looking at the original 1958 screenplay, before finally deciding to wash his hands of the whole affair, and Christopher has worked with illustrators for some of the books - for example the 2003 Illustrated version of the Silmarillion was done with Christopher's involvement/approval. That is to say - he interacted with the illustrator to suggest ideas and improvements.

Anyway, none of this really matters unless the decision goes the Tolkien family's way!

One last thing - all bets are off when the copyright expires on the books, because then anyone will be able to make films of them, but that won't be for a while yet!