It may be five and half years since the last Lord Of The Rings movie came out, but the legal repucussions are still being felt, largely over whether New Line shared enough of the profits with various people. Peter Jackson’s lawsuit against New Line, where he alleged the company hadn’t paid him millions of his share of the profits, almost prevented him having any involvement in the upcoming The Hobbit, however the two sides managed to sort things out and Jackson will now be producing and writing the screenplay for the project.
However another lawsuit over Rings profits is still ongoing, with the heirs of JRR Tolkien claiming that the studio owes them $220 million, under a 1969 agreement (with the Saul Zaentz Company, which actually own the rights to screen versions of Lord Of The Rings) that they say entitles them to 7.5% of the gross of any movie version of Tolkien’s work, minus a few costs.
New Line recently asked that a judge rather than jury hear the case, but this has now been dismissed, and the case if due to go before the Los Angeles Superior Court on October 19th. However New Line is still seeking to have the case heard by a judge instead of a jury, proably because juries tend to have less sympathy with big companies than judges do, and will refile the motion at a later date.