Lawsuit by Tolkien Estate may halt The Hobbit

[PrinceOfTheHalflings]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

Well, it doesn't really say "halt" The Hobbit. It suggests there is a struggle to see who controls the profits from such a production. How interesting, though, to have the rights revert back to the Estate.

The risk for New Line is that if the case goes to trial they may lose - this could mean not only having to pay out hundreds of millions to the Estate and Harper Collins but ALSO losing the rights to the Hobbit films (which could be worth billions).

I'm surprised that they haven't offered a hundred million (or so) to make this go away.

To be sure, even if New Line lose they can appeal, but it's not like the Tolkien family are paupers. New Line can't prolong this case until the Tolkien's run out of money. New Line would probably go broke before the Tolkien's did!