The Rights Sold

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

Somebody called Saul.

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[Elbereth Vala Varda]

Hmm... Of course without doubt they don't 'own' it however, correct?

 

[Halasían]

Yes the do Elbereth. The 'rights' here are the ones J.R.R. Tolkien sold to United Artists back in 1969, and were acquired by Saul Zaentz in 1976 I believe. As the article says, it's these rights that has led to licensing the various board, card, and video games over the years to now, as well as the Bass-Ranking Hobbit and Lord of the Rings cartoons, the Bakshi Lord of the Rings project as well as Peter Jackson's two trilogy projects and the upcoming War of the Rohirrim animated series.

There was some talk that Amazon was in the running to buy the rights from Saul Zaentz but that never materialized.

 

[Elbereth Vala Varda]

I see. Thank you for the clarification.

 

[Radaghast]

 

[Elbereth Vala Varda]

Yes the do Elbereth. The 'rights' here are the ones J.R.R. Tolkien sold to United Artists back in 1969, and were acquired by Saul Zaentz in 1976 I believe. As the article says, it's these rights that has led to licensing the various board, card, and video games over the years to now, as well as the Bass-Ranking Hobbit and Lord of the Rings cartoons, the Bakshi Lord of the Rings project as well as Peter Jackson's two trilogy projects and the upcoming War of the Rohirrim animated series.

There was some talk that Amazon was in the running to buy the rights from Saul Zaentz but that never materialized.

Tolkien actually sold the rights, then?

 

[Halasían]

Tolkien actually sold the rights, then?

Yes. I was in a discussion over in the Hall of Fire with a lawyer-type about them years ago when teh Tolkien Estate sold Amazon the Rings of Power deal. There was a good explanation of what was happening back in February, and though both Amazon and Warner Brothers were early favorites, the fact this video game company took home the prize says a lot.

This is an interesting read about this selling of rights.

Edit to add this link which I think Explains this Embracer sale pretty well.

 

[1stvermont]

Somebody called Saul.

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I was hoping Sega/Creative assemble would acquire the rights to make a LOTR Total war😩

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

I don't follow the ins and outs of the rights, nor am I familiar with the videogame industry, but it appears there are some open questions:

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WETA is supposedly working on a game:

A new Lord of the Rings game is in the works from Weta Workshop

It’s based on the books.

www.theverge.com

And of course, the new owners can always dole out rights to bits and pieces, if they want.

 

[Elbereth Vala Varda]

I don't follow the ins and outs of the rights, nor am I familiar with the videogame industry, but it appears there are some open questions:

Redirect Notice

WETA is supposedly working on a game:

A new Lord of the Rings game is in the works from Weta Workshop

It’s based on the books.

www.theverge.com

And of course, the new owners can always dole out rights to bits and pieces, if they want.

Interesting.

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

They've been teasing possible movies, so maybe we'll get the "Young Aragorn" some of us originally hoped for from Amazon.

Or maybe YayGollum will finally get the true story about his hero.