Peter Jackson a Master of Understatement

“Christopher Tolkien did not wish to be involved in the LOTR movies and I would assume his feelings are the same with these two films. I totally respect him for that since he is looking after the legacy of his father’s books and does not wish to be involved in someone else’s interpretation of those stories.�

—Peter Jackson in this weekend’s online chat about The Hobbit

Christopher Tolkien, 83, is calling for “one last crusade� in a long-running court battle against the producers of The Lord of the Rings only weeks before carpenters are due to begin work in New Zealand on the sets for the latest Middle-earth epic. He claims the Tolkien family is owed £80m by New Line Cinema under a deal for a 7.5% share of profits that was signed in 1969, when his father reluctantly sold film rights to pay a tax bill… At a hearing on June 6 Christopher Tolkien will ask a Californian judge to back his claim that he can “terminate� film rights to The Hobbit. He is said to be furious with the New Line studio, which earned £3 billion from the Rings trilogy.

—“Hobbit movies meet dire foe in son of Tolkien,� the Sunday Times (London)