LOS ANGELES, June 28 (UPI) -- "Lord of the Rings" Director Peter Jackson earned about $200 million for the Oscar-winning trilogy but says New Line Cinema owes him up to $100 million more.
The claim strikes at the heart of today's vertically integrated media companies in claiming New Line sold merchandising rights through a closed process, called pre-emptive bidding, mainly to other Time Warner subsidiaries at less than market value, the New York Times reported.
In the February suit, Jackson accused New Line of fraud in handling revenue from the 2001 "The Fellowship of the Ring" that underpaid him by millions.
If applied to the hobbit trilogy that grossed some $4 billion, Jackson's lawyer said New Line would owe the director, co-producer and co-writer of the movies about $100 million.
New Line said it would fight the suit.
"There's a certain piggishness involved here," an unnamed New Line lawyer said. "New Line already gave him enough money to rebuild Baghdad, but it's still not enough for him."
