Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movie trilogy has so far grossed around $6 billion worldwide, and everyone wants a piece of the lucrative action. That includes The Tolkien Trust, which recently swallowed a double-edged sword in court while trying to get some.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ann I. Jones ruled that Tolkien's charitable trust established a legal foundation for fraud against New Line Cinema, but that it is barred from seeking punitive damages, according to the Associated Press. In other words, it can recoup money for getting screwed, but not too much. Hooray for Hollywood.
The only good news to come out of this latest wrinkle in New Line's legal soap opera? The judge's ruling may pave the way for a settlement before an October 2009 trial that will allow the two-part adaptation of Tolkien's The Hobbit to move forward. Guillermo Del Toro has been tapped to direct that bonanza-in-waiting, with Jackson retiring to the executive producer chair.
New Line Cinema has 10 days to answer The Tolkien Trust's watered-down lawsuit, and no doubt will. After the beleaguered indie studio was sued by everyone within shouting distance of Lord of the Rings, including Jackson himself, it was reorganized as a Time Warner subsidiary and its founders Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne were bounced from the big chair.
In other words, the studio will probably do whatever it can to get The Hobbit out of the hole and into the malls. That includes paying the charitable trust started by Tolkien's heirs to keep the seminal author's work from getting ripped off.
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