Or no Hobbits at all... - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Sauron the White · 02-12-2008, 12:12 PM

I have a serious question about this development.

To what end (other than the obvious financial one) is The Tolkien Estate pursuing this? What is in it for them besides the $150 million that they feel they contractually deserve?

As I said in my first post, if the contract says they get the money then they certainly should get every penny they are owed. No problem there - at least from me. New Line has a had record of cheating nearly all concerned and it would not surprise me to find out the Tolkien Estate is in that line also.

I do find two things interesting about the money however. First, this is the first time I can remember hearing about a 7.5% profit sharing arrangement. Second, Jacksons attorneys used a figure of $4 billion US in revenues from the films and other sources. The Tolkien Estate figure of $6 billion is a good 33% higher than that. Why the difference?

But back to my main question....... what is the Tolkien Estate really angling to do here other than collect money? They want to strip New Line of the rights to both LOTR and HOBBIT. Okay. They flex some legal muscle and show they are no pansies. But if those rights go back to Saul Zaentz and he is free to sell them to anyone else, how does the Estate profit from that? What do they gain?

Or do they then claim in court that Zaentz failed to exercise some type of due dilligence or responsibility and he too should be stripped of those rights and they should revert totally to the Estate?

Unless that is the ultimate plan and goal, I suspect that what they gain is time. It would push back the two Middle earth films a good year or two and that may be important to them. I have thought all along that what the Estate resents most about these films is their success has supplanted the books in the minds of the world when it comes to what LORD OF THE RINGS is. The Ali G skit comes to mind where he attempts to sell a British publisher on the idea of "LOTR- the books" due to the films success. Shoving these two films even further on the back burner advances their goal of no more movies at all and only having the books out there.

If I am missing something, please respond.

02-12-2008, 12:12 PM	#19
Sauron the White Ghost Prince of Cardolan Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 903	I have a serious question about this development. To what end (other than the obvious financial one) is The Tolkien Estate pursuing this? What is in it for them besides the $150 million that they feel they contractually deserve? As I said in my first post, if the contract says they get the money then they certainly should get every penny they are owed. No problem there - at least from me. New Line has a had record of cheating nearly all concerned and it would not surprise me to find out the Tolkien Estate is in that line also. I do find two things interesting about the money however. First, this is the first time I can remember hearing about a 7.5% profit sharing arrangement. Second, Jacksons attorneys used a figure of $4 billion US in revenues from the films and other sources. The Tolkien Estate figure of $6 billion is a good 33% higher than that. Why the difference? But back to my main question....... what is the Tolkien Estate really angling to do here other than collect money? They want to strip New Line of the rights to both LOTR and HOBBIT. Okay. They flex some legal muscle and show they are no pansies. But if those rights go back to Saul Zaentz and he is free to sell them to anyone else, how does the Estate profit from that? What do they gain? Or do they then claim in court that Zaentz failed to exercise some type of due dilligence or responsibility and he too should be stripped of those rights and they should revert totally to the Estate? Unless that is the ultimate plan and goal, I suspect that what they gain is time. It would push back the two Middle earth films a good year or two and that may be important to them. I have thought all along that what the Estate resents most about these films is their success has supplanted the books in the minds of the world when it comes to what LORD OF THE RINGS is. The Ali G skit comes to mind where he attempts to sell a British publisher on the idea of "LOTR- the books" due to the films success. Shoving these two films even further on the back burner advances their goal of no more movies at all and only having the books out there. If I am missing something, please respond.