Film Rights to First & Second Age

[William Cloud Hicklin]

And are not the Appendicies with its clear and unmistakable mention of The Silmarallion and events part of LOTR?

What you appear to be asking is whether, somehow, The entire Silmarillion was, by its title being mentioned, incorporated by reference into The Lord of the Rings and hence its film rights?

No.

While I suppose one could try to film the two-paragraph synopsis, it couldn't track the remaining material at all.

Your other question about 'diminishing value' is just a roundabout waty of making a similar but even more audacious claim: that when UA bought the LR fim rights they somehow acquired an ownership interest in everything JRRT might publish in the future. Again, no. UA/Zaentz/New Lin's rights to do something based on the Appendices text is unaffected by the subsequent publication of The Silmarillion.

(But see the South Park episode where Chef is sued by a record company for "prospective plagiarism", for having written a song the company ripped off twenty years later).

If this chutzpatic theory had any merit, then surely New Line could make and distribute The Hobbit on the grounds that it's 'incorporated' in the LR!