The lawsuit between Warner Bros. and J.R.R. Tolkien's estate has finally been settled. Reports stated that the two parties have agreed to the terms amicably following a row in court that begun in 2012.
J.R.R. Tolkien's estate, which holds the rights to the characters the author created for his epic novels "Lord of the Rings" (LOTR) and "The Hobbit," accused the Hollywood studio of exploitation. Warner Bros. allegedly used the characters in its digital merchandise, online games and video games, which was not part of the original agreement. The studio, on the other hand, filed a countersuit that claimed a "loss of millions of dollars in license fees" due to the litigation.
Following the settlement this July, Warner Bros. issued a statement via Variety. "The parties are pleased that they have amicably resolved this matter and look forward to working together in the future," the company spokesperson said.
Working together again
The lawyers for J.R.R. Tolkien's estate did not issue any comment regarding the settlement. The studio's words, however, hinted at a possibility that it might have secured another chance at a new LOTR movie, with the estate's permission.
The "Lord of the Rings" trilogy (2001-2003) became a huge box office hit as well as a big Oscar winner. The movies were followed up with the release of "The Hobbit" trilogy (2012-2014), which were not as big hits as LOTR but were still well-received.
All films were helmed by Peter Jackson.
Without a doubt, J.R.R. Tolkien's stories translate really well on the big screen. With the lawsuit finally settled, moviegoers and fans shouldn't be surprised if there is a renewed interest for LOTR.
Another LOTR?
But which of J.R.R. Tolkien's other stories could Warner Bros. do if the estate has indeed allowed another LOTR follow-up?
Can Warner Bros now make its own epic fantasy based only on the characters in Tolkien’s work?
This was how the video games based on the “Lord of the Rings” came to be. For instance, “Middle Earth: Shadow Of Mordor,” which came out in 2013 as a video game, had a storyline that wasn’t explicitly written by J.R.R. Tolkien. Its development, however, took inspirations from his novels.
“Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor centered on a Celebrimbor, a forger, who was mentioned in J.R.R. Tolkien's “The Silmarillion” but was only mentioned in the appendages of LOTR and was never in the film iterations. His story has big potentials to become a feature film. Will Warner Bros. make an attempt?
