New Line Hasn’t Paid a Dime for “Rings”

I’m sure the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien was happy to let New Line Cinema make “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy into an epic movie experience.  After all, certainly Tolkien’s estate would share in the $6 billion in profits from the films, right?  Apparently not.

According to a story on Yahoo News, Tolkien’s estate hasn’t seen a cent’s worth of the profits from the phenomenally successful films.  The estate has filed a lawsuit, stating that New Line Cinema agreed to pay 7.5 percent of gross receipts, including everything from ticket sales to DVD and merchandise profits.

The plaintiffs also seek a court order that would give the Tolkien estate the right to terminate any of New Line’s movie rights to other works by the author. This includes “The Hobbit,” for which the two-film adaptation was set to be released in 2010 and 2011.

The plaintiffs’ lawyers said they have been spending the past three years trying to receive payment from New Line.