Lawsuit by Tolkien Estate may halt The Hobbit

[Mithalwen]

No they wouldn't. Authors almost never have any clout over what film makers do with their works when the rights have been sold .... a notable exception being JK Rowling who had the advantage of not having completed the series at the start of filming and could say you can't do x because it compromises something in a later book.

If you want a contemporary example, look at "My sister's keeper" . Despite probably paying a substantial amount for a work by a bestselling author, Warner Bros decided to turn an intelligent story with serious issues and a twist in the tale in to a routine tearjerker by changing the ending which somewhat missed the whole point of the book. Jodi Picoult has explicitly said on her website that it was completely out of her control and all complaints should be directed at the film makers.

Being extremely grateful that CT has spent decades of his life bringing so much of his father's writing to mass audience, I am glad that he wasn't obliged to spend any time on an entreprise he had no interest in. I can only imagine that he, more than anyone, can see Middle Earth in his mind's eye and has no need of film makers to realise it for him. May he spend what years are left to him in his own amusement...

Maybe I should dig up the old threads since WCH being both a lawyer and a
and correspondent of Christopher Tolkien made a number of well informed posts...