Tolkien Trust sues New Line Cinema

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- The Tolkien Trust is suing Hollywood's New Line Cinema over money it claims it is owed from the "Lord of the Rings" films.

The British charity said the studio failed to pay "a contractually required gross profit participation" in the three blockbusters, which were based on J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy novels and earned cumulative worldwide, gross box-office receipts of nearly $6 billion.

The trustees of the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien and HarperCollins Publishers are co-plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which was filed Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court.

"The Tolkien trustees do not file lawsuits lightly, and have tried unsuccessfully to resolve their claims out of court. 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," the trustees' U.K. attorney, Steven Maier of Manches LLP, said in a statement.

The complaint seeks more than $150 million in compensatory damages, as well as punitive damages, and the right to terminate any further rights New Line may have to the Tolkien works, including "The Hobbit."