Who’s Suing New Line Over ‘Lord of the Rings’ Now?

That would be the estate of Lord of the Rings writer J.R.R. Tolkien, which filed a lawsuit against New Line yesterday claiming it’s not paid its share of the profits from the $6 billion-grossing movie trilogy. Publisher HarperCollins and the Tolkien Trust, the British charity which manages the author’s estate, says the studio has yet to pay “even one penny� and is seeking more than $150 million in compensatory damages and threatening to derail the two forthcoming Hobbits, which were to get under way soon with Guillermo del Toro directing. This comes shortly after New Line’s $40 million settlement with director Peter Jackson, who’d claimed he’d not been paid his fair share of the trilogy’s profits. Also, it was announced in December that Rings producer Saul Zaentz was, too, suing the studio, alleging that they’d not made documents available to prove that he’d been paid his cut.

We’re considering getting in on this action — our asses still hurt from sitting in a movie theater for ten hours, so we figure New Line probably owes us something.

Tolkien Heirs Sue New Line Over Millions From ‘Rings’ [NYT]
Earlier: Guillermo del Toro to Direct ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Hobbit 2: Hobbits Take Manhattan’
Peter Jackson, New Line Headed Back to Middle-earth