Film Rights to First & Second Age

[Sauron the White]

from davem

Thus, whether it was UA, or Saul Zaentz, if they didn't take the time to find out that this reference in RotK to 'The Silmarillion' was to an actual work in progress they are entirely at fault

That is the most amazing statement I have ever heard from you - and I have heard more than my share. Lets see if I get this right. UA was suppose to look into the future and know that JRRT would someday publish a book that he had been working on for decades and decades and was in little better condition that stacks of unsorted papers and notes? They were suppose to know, that somehow, someway, someday, JRRT or his heirs would undercut their investment by putting out another book with much the same material that they had paid him for? Or, they should have been aware of a rather obscure article turned into a book about the subject and been able to predict the future from that?

Amazing in the extreme.

Sorry, but all this talk of 'ethics' is a joke

It very well could be. A bad joke. But upon who? Put yourself into the position of the film rights holders.

Event #1 - JRRT toys with the idea of being deeply involved with the production of a film based on his book LOTR. However, after several years of various levels of discussion, he makes a decision between "Art or Money" and opts for money. He gets his money and UA gets the film rights to LOTR - cover to cover along with THE HOBBIT. JRRT reportedly then says its okay and is happy to make that deal because the book is unfimlable anyways. He sold somebody something that he believes will never be realized.

Event #2 - Years later, JRRT is dead but he has a legal heir Christopher Tolkien. CT takes all those stacks of unsorted papers that have been hanging around for decades and spends years of hard work on them producing a cohesive narrative that is published into a novel length book. Nearly every single event contained in the beginning of the Appendicies I is included in the book. Events to which his father sold film rights are an important part of his book.

Now the publication of the book makes the use of those film rights regarding the First Age material at best problematic and at worst impossible.

One Tolkien giveth and another Tolkien taketh away - or at least reduce the crap out of the value. And what is anyone willing to do to make the rights holder whole again and restore the value of his purchase? Nothing. Zip. Zero. Zilch.

And now you want me to feel badly about bringing up the issue of ethics?

If we're talking about 'ethics' here, can I ask whether you believe Zaentz has ever consulted the Tolkien family/Estate before he flogged the licence to produce any kind of Tolkien related trash to the highest bidder?

Your use of the word trash I imagine is defined by your own particular tastes and in no way reflect the hundreds of millions of people who bought tickets again and again to see the Jackson films making them some of the most successful and loved films ever made?

Your use of the word trash I imagine is defined by your own particular tastes and in no way reflects the opinion of professional film critics who judged each of the three Jackson films some of the better films of each year.

Your use of the word trash I imagine is defined by your own particular tastes and in no way reflects the opinion of industry professionals who gave many of their highest awards of excellence to these films?

I just want to be sure what standards you are employing here.