You may have read recently that the Tolkien Estate has brought a lawsuit against Warner Bros., regarding Warner Bros.’ marketing rights for Lord of the Rings and Hobbit products. Our friend Erik Wecks has written a great piece for Geek Dad at Wired.com, clarifying some of the issues at stake and suggesting why the Tolkien Estate may have felt the need to take such action. For fans of Tolkien’s work, just how far is too far – when does a franchise become a sell out? Check out the excellent article here.
We received a message from Weta Workshop saying that Richard Taylor would like to set the record straight about who built the installation at the Embassy Theatre in Wellington. Everyone has been ooh-ing and aah-ing over the amazing Hobbit themed installations popping up all over the ‘Middle of Middle-earth’ – and Weta were concerned that 3Foot7 were not getting the kudos due to them. Here’s what they had to say:
To all our friends and readers at TORn – Please note that although our local newspaper has kindly credited Weta Workshop as having built the Gandalf on the front of the Embassy, this is not in fact the case. It is very important to us as a company to not receive credit for others’ work and we therefore wish to confirm that the Gandalf is the work of friends and colleagues of ours from 3foot7’s art department. We congratulate them on the opportunity to do this prize commission.
Neil Finn talks to Andrew Dickens of News Talk ZB about recording “The Song of the Lonely Mountain” for the end credits of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
Choice quote regarding the “anvils” used in the song:
“I’d love to paint a picture of a big, blacksmith’s anvil sitting in the middle of the studio but, in actual fact, it was my son Liam […] poised over an electronic keyboard.”
Tolkien Estate and HarperCollins are suing The Saul Zaentz Company and Warner Bros. Tolkien Estate alleges that the companies are merchandising beyond the bounds of what was agreed in the 1969 deal with the studio and rights holder Saul Zeantz.
“The original contracting parties thus contemplated a limited grant of the right to sell consumer products of the type regularly merchandised at the time (such as figurines, tableware, stationery items, clothing and the like). They did not include any grant of exploitations such as electronic or digital rights, rights in media yet to be devised or other intangibles such as rights in services,” says the 26-page complaint. Continue reading “Tolkien Estate sues WB and Saul Zaentz”
Confused about HFR 3D? Not convinced it’s the thing fr you? Peter Jackson explains what it is, why he’s chosen to employ it, and why he believes you should check it out in this short question and answer article. Continue reading “HFR 3D: Peter Jackson explains what and why”
