LOTR heirs demand share of profits

Here's a classic case of being left out in the cold.

The heirs of J R R Tolkien, the creator of The Lords Of The Rings are demanding their share of the profits made from the series' success amounting to the $6 billion (£3.7 billion), Timesonline website reported.

A lawsuit in this regard filed by the writer's estate, a British charity called The Tolkien Trust, and HarperCollins, the original Lord of the Rings publisher, against New Line Cinema in Los Angeles Superior Court on February 11 demanded $150 million in compensatory damages as well as punitive damages, and a declaration from the court that the plaintiffs have a right to terminate any further rights to the Tolkien works, including The Hobbit.

The estimate includes everything from box office receipts to revenue from sales of DVDs and other products.

The lawsuit came after repeated request for monetary share of the profits fell on deaf ears.

'The Tolkien trustees do not file lawsuits lightly, and have tried unsuccessfully to resolve their claims out of court,' Timesonline quoted the trustees' UK lawyer, Steven Maier, of Manches LLP as saying.

'But in this case, New Line has left them no option at all. New Line has not paid the plaintiffs even one penny of its contractual share of gross receipts despite the billions of dollars of gross revenue generated by these wildly successful motion pictures,' Timesonline added.

According to the complaint, the trustees and a predecessor to HarperCollins signed a contract with United Artists in 1969 for the film rights to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

The trustees and the publisher claim they are entitled to a 7.5 per cent share of the gross receipts.

New Line, which inherited the rights to make the movies in 1998, was not available for comment.