The L.A. Times weighed in today on the Tolkien vs. New Line lawsuit both in the article: Tolkien’s children fight for ‘Lord of the Rings’ gold and in the “Opinion L.A.” blog. Both the article and blog entry explore the nuances of infamous Hollywood “fuzzy” accounting and play off of each other with respect to how much, and for how long, the heirs of a copyright owner should benefit from their forebear’s rights. Definitely worth a read. Thanks to diedye for the tip.
Category: Tolkien
Message board member Voronwe the Faithful has come through for us once again. He’s the first to report on the results of hearing on New Line’s Demurrer and Motion to Strike, held on June 24.
“Well, it looks like my take on the demurrer that New Line filed in the case filed against it by the Tolkien family and publisher was pretty darn accurate. The court sustained the demurrer with leave to amend within 20 days. The court explicitly held that the allegations in the Complaint support nothing more than a breach of contract cause of action. Assuming that the plaintiffs are unable to satisfactorily amend the complaint to assert new allegations that support the fraud and/or breach of fiduciary duty causes of action (a virtual impossibility), those causes of action are out, and New Line is protected from the possibility of an award of punitive damages.”
If you missed it, be sure to read the article Voronwe shared with us on Clearing up Misconceptions Regarding the Tolkien vs. New Line Lawsuit. And, as always, if you have opinions or concerns to share on the topic, be sure and check out the discussion underway on our message boards.
This week’s LOTR movie news is kinda sparse, so I thought I’d add in some Tolkien stuff. I tried to concentrate on mostly on things related to LOTR, with a smattering of some personal (but public) info on Tolkien & family. Continue reading “Tolkien Flashback – June 14th-June 20th”
Thanks to Board Member Elven for sending along this ‘News in Brief’ from the TimesOnline.co.uk:
In our report of the litigation between the Tolkien family and New Line Cinema, producers of The Lord of the Rings (May 25), we did not make it clear that Christopher Tolkien is suing as a trustee of the Tolkien Trust, a registered charity, and the JRR Tolkien 1967 Discretionary Settlement. It was another member of the family who referred to the action as “one last crusade”, not Mr Tolkien, and the hearing on June 6 was to fix a date for the eventual trial, not actually to halt Hollywood plans to film The Hobbit. We apologise to the trustees and Mr Tolkien for these errors.
Can’t quite visualize that? Believe it or not, that’s one of the many casting rumors that was sent to TORn in June of 1999, reported in the Sunday Star Times no less. Now that the casting rumor mill has started anew for The Hobbit and ‘F2,’ message board member diedye thought it would be fun to re-visit some of the old news reported on TORn in times past. Do you remember the first photos of Sam and Frodo on Mt. Doom from June of 2000? Did you know Bruce Willis was rumored to have petitioned PJ for a part in LOTR? With a few items sprinkled in from Tolkien’s letters and other sources, this makes for a fun trip down memory lane. Stay tuned for regular installments!
Continue reading “TORn Flashback June 9-14: Keanu Reeves or Danny DiVito as Gandalf?”
Yvonne T let us in on a new book about Tolkien by our good pal Douglas A. Anderson, ‘On Tolkien: Interviews, Reminiscences, and Other Essays is described as an extraordinary glimpse into the world of J.R.R. Tolkien through his own words and those of family, friends, and colleagues. [Amazon.com] Continue reading “New Book: On Tolkien: Interviews, Reminiscences, and Other Essays”