That's a Variety article detailing the latest in the ongoing legal battle pitting the heirs of author J.R.R. Tolkien and publisher Harper Collins against the Zaentz Co. and Warner Bros. The TL;DR is that the Tolkien heirs are suing Warner et al because Warner and Zaentz licensed online video games for The Lord of the the Rings and the heirs say their 1969 rights deal with the studios allows only the license of games that come in an actual box.
Yeah.
Parties that are burning through thousands of billable hours fighting in court over stuff like that likely aren't anywhere near working together on a potential nine-figure (plus?) deal to expand their disputed licensing deal to allow something as permanent as a new theme park land.
The Tolkien heirs want more money and/or more control than they feel that they are getting. That's discouraging to any potential new partners wanting to license anything having to do with The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit. Would you sign a big-money deal with Warner Bros. to develop a new LotR product if you thought that there was even the chance that your project would be held up in court by a lawsuit from the Tolkien family? You'd want to see Warner indemnify you against that before you'd even think about signing the deal, wouldn't you?
And if you're Warner Bros., you certainly don't want to take on the expense of those indemnity clauses if you're anything less than 100-percent certain of what your contract with the Tolkien heirs allows you to do. And that certainty can come only from a court's ruling or a legal settlement, at this point.
So that's where we are, as theme park fans. We are waiting for a court to hand down a ruling, or the parties to come to a settlement, that firmly establishes what can and cannot be licensed and who gets paid what for that. Until the Tolkien heirs can find a way to work together with Warner and Zaentz, they're not going to be able to add any major third party, including theme parks, into their relationship.
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Warner Bros needs to ask the Estate for the theme park rights that they can use to develop their own theme park or reassign to the third party. This can't happen when the parties haven't settled their current dispute.
Now, if such a move can prevent big corporations from further adulterating Tolkien's Middle-earth, it would probably be a very positive outcome...
What does this mean for those of us who want to see a theme park adaptation of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit?
One: This will take some time to resolve. The Tolkien Estate is asking for upwards of $160M in damages, and at that level of damages, this case could take a long time to settle with all of the appeals, countersuits, and motions for delay and/or discovery.
Two: No theme park operator is going to touch the Tolkien franchises until the case is settled and the ownership of the theme park rights is firmly established. (Unless somebody is clever enough to come to agreement with both parties before the suit is resolved.)
Three: Theme park enthusiasts of the LOTR and the Hobbit should probably root for Warner Brothers to prevail since they will probably license the theme park rights fairly quickly to the highest bidder (which will hopefully be Universal and Comcast). If the Tolkien Estate wins, it is anybodys guess as to when if ever they would license the rights to anybody.
Personally, I think the suit by the Tolkien Estate has merit especially when it comes to the use of the names and the characters in online gambling and physical slot machines, but their hand would have been further strengthened if they had shown an actual interest in marketing the rights remaining to them in an active manner instead of sitting on their rear ends looking down their noses at any use of Tolkien's legacy that didn't meet their strict puritanical Tolkien literary standards.
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As with Marvel, theme park rights are always a separate entity. On going court battles don't need per se to get in the way of realising a theme park rights construction.
If anything these lawyers cost an arm and a leg and a Potter like money maker could fund them for all the shenanigans they are up to in court.
I still hope Universal will end up with the license. I love the movies and they are the only company that can put me in those worlds without rocking me to sleep.