Film Rights to First & Second Age - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Sauron the White · 12-18-2007, 10:15 PM

Nerwen ... I will try as you request.
My point is that it is not clear what rights are owned by the Tolkien Estate and what rights are owned by Zaentz and New LIne when it comes to material outsideofthe actual HOBBIT and LOTR stories.

Why? Because JRRT included a wealth of historical information in his Appendicies which were part of LOTR - ROTK and sold as film rights in 1969. Eight years later, the book length SILMARALLION is published and now there are two accounts of these events.

Many people here, including Mr. Hicklin, speak as if they have a Supreme Court decision in front of them clearly spelling out in great detail what can be done and what cannot be done with these film rights. This is not the case in reality. There is much grey area .

Since it was announced today that other material will be used in the upcoming two films outside of the normal LOTR and HOBBIT stories, I thought it would be a good idea to explore the entire idea and approach it from something other than the convention wisdom.

My point has nothing to do with CT causing to be published the SIL. Nothing. I think that was terrific. But it certainly makes the film rights to the Silmarallion material in LOTR a much more murky situation which I think is glossed over by folks like Mr. Hicklin who appear to think their viewpoint is Holy Writ or came down from the mountain top led by a choir of angels.

I refer you to my opening post in this thread.

12-18-2007, 10:15 PM	#11
Sauron the White Ghost Prince of Cardolan Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 903	Nerwen ... I will try as you request. My point is that it is not clear what rights are owned by the Tolkien Estate and what rights are owned by Zaentz and New LIne when it comes to material outsideofthe actual HOBBIT and LOTR stories. Why? Because JRRT included a wealth of historical information in his Appendicies which were part of LOTR - ROTK and sold as film rights in 1969. Eight years later, the book length SILMARALLION is published and now there are two accounts of these events. Many people here, including Mr. Hicklin, speak as if they have a Supreme Court decision in front of them clearly spelling out in great detail what can be done and what cannot be done with these film rights. This is not the case in reality. There is much grey area . Since it was announced today that other material will be used in the upcoming two films outside of the normal LOTR and HOBBIT stories, I thought it would be a good idea to explore the entire idea and approach it from something other than the convention wisdom. My point has nothing to do with CT causing to be published the SIL. Nothing. I think that was terrific. But it certainly makes the film rights to the Silmarallion material in LOTR a much more murky situation which I think is glossed over by folks like Mr. Hicklin who appear to think their viewpoint is Holy Writ or came down from the mountain top led by a choir of angels. I refer you to my opening post in this thread.