Tolkien Trust Settles With New Line - THE HOBBIT's Journey Set To Begin

Jim here. Not that this is a surprise, but New Line has settled their lawsuit with the Tolkien Trust over royalties that were allegedly due to them following the LOTRs release. THE HOBBIT may proceed (as if it were ever in question).

The trust was seeking $150 million. The settlement is confidential - nothing has leaked yet.

Christopher Tolkien stated: “The Trustees regret that legal action was necessary, but are glad that this dispute has been settled on satisfactory terms that will allow the Tolkien Trust properly to pursue its charitable objectives. The Trustees acknowledge that New Line may now proceed with its proposed films of ‘The Hobbit.’”

Good news indeed. Now that they can legally talk about what they are going to be doing with THE HOBBIT - best they come clean about it being in 3D. Don't you think? :-)

Just When You Thought The Smaug Was Clearing...

Whoa. I had to read this news item twice - it clearly states that New Line has not paid ONE CENT of the Lord Of The Rings contractual agreement to the Tolkien Trust (the estate of the Tolkien family) for revenue earned from J.R.R. Tolkien's writings. So the Trust is suing New Line for:

1. $150 Million in unpaid earnings.
2. Punitive damages (not disclosed).
   

Further - and the one that hurts most - is that the rights to The Hobbit may now be revoked from New Line! The Trust is also suing for a court order to terminate any rights to "The Hobbit" that New Line may hold.

Again, I must reiterate that we feel Peter Jackson will still direct one, if not both Hobbit films no matter who holds the rights, but *sigh* this looks like it may delay the film even more.

Makes me wish the rights had gone to a major studio originally - although Peter Jackson was definitely the key to the success. Hang in there Peter!