Beyond the Tolkien Estate

[The Saucepan Man]

Originally Posted by Mister Underhill

Anyway, according to Forbes.com, the Estate does get a cut.

It is quite possible that the sale of the rights was structured so as to pay a reduced lump sum for the rights together with a proportion of their future earnings. I doubt that the proportion would be large, but it could still amount to a tidy little earner given the amount that the films, not to mention the associated merchandise, have generated.

But ownership would have passed to the purchaser of the rights so, unless there was some sort of right of veto built into the deal (which I doubt), the Estate will have no say over how they are used.

It does make you wonder how Tolkien would feel about legions of lawyers haggling over the cash generated by his creation.

Although (to stick up for my profession for a moment ) those instructing the lawyers must take their fair share of the blame.