New Line & Tolkien Finally Settle 'Lord of the Rings' Lawsuit

The Tolkien Trust and HarperCollins Publishers have resolved a lawsuit with New Line Cinema over the "Lord of the Rings" films that could put a halt on all future movies based on J.R.R. Tolkien's work.

Christopher Tolkien said: "The Trustees regret that legal action was necessary, but are glad that this dispute has been settled on satisfactory terms that will allow the Tolkien Trust properly to pursue its charitable objectives.

"The Trustees acknowledge that New Line may now proceed with its proposed films of The Hobbit."

New Line became part of Warner Bros in March last year. Warner Bros president Alan Horn said: "We deeply value the contributions of the Tolkien novels to the success of our films and are pleased to have put this litigation behind us.

"We all look forward to a mutually productive and beneficial relationship in the future."

J.R.R. Tolkien had sold the rights to his novels 40 years ago in return for 7.5 per cent of the future film earnings.

The three "Lord of the Rings" films together made almost $3billion at the box office and another $3billion from DVDs, merchandise and the other sources. But Tolkien's heirs said they had not received anything and in February filed a lawsuit for $220million.

Tolkien's family - and their charity the Tolkien Trust - would be able to terminate further rights to the author's work if it proved breach of contract. This would have stopped "The Hobbit" films being made.

Reuters reports that the terms of the settlement are confidential.
The settlement of the case will allow the two-part adaptation of "The Hobbit," to be directed by Guillermo del Toro and produced by Peter Jackson, to go ahead.

Casting is expected to be announced now the legal threat has been removed.

Thankfully this struggle is no more. This finally wraps up all outstanding lawsuits surrounding Tolkien and various companies that would've stalled "The Hobbit's" development since this could've shut that down before shooting. Good news all around, and good riddance it's all behind us. Now to look forward to "The Hobbit"!

More news to come! Catch ya' later!
Sources: The Geek Files, First Showing, THR, Deadline Hollywood

The Hunt for Gollum

An independtly made film titled "The Hunt for Gollum" follows Aragorn (Adrian Webster), the Heir of Isildur, as he sets out to find the creature Gollum (voiced by Gareth Brough and Jason Perino). The creature must be found to discover the truth about the ring, and to protect the future Ringbearer. The script for the film was adapted from elements of the appendices of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” by Chris Bouchard, who also served as exec producer and director.

The film has a running time of about 38 minutes (34 for just the film without the ending credits) and was made on a modest budget of $3,000. It doesn't have the large grand scale of the "Lord of the Rings" movies by Peter Jackson, but it definitely captures the feel of them.

Now that Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro have decided not to film a go between from the upcoming "Hobbit" films and "The Lord of the Rings," I would say this could serve as the unofficial filler.

Watch the film here and watch the trailer below.

Trailer 2 - The Hunt For Gollum [2]
by HuntForGollum

If you are a "LOTR" fan, this is a must see!

Halo

Halo is an extremely popular game made by Bungie and published by Microsoft. There have been three versions of the game, five novels, two graphic novels and various spin-off games and other products.
Fans of the game want to know if the rumors are true. Will there be a Halo movie?

According to Screen Rant, "in April of this year that screenwriter Stuart Beattie (Gears of War, G.I. Joe) had written a spec screenplay for Halo. He did this because he was frustrated with the lack of progress on the project. It’s been pitched or rumored previously, but no studio has bitten.

The term 'spec screenplay,' is a screenplay that has been written for no money and is a speculative effort.

Beattie is a big Halo fan, and the effort he put forth was a fan’s labor of love. This could be a very good thing for the fans of Halo indeed, to have someone write a script who really knows the background of a franchise."

Other information is that Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings) will be the executive producer on the film. The one problem is that no studio is wanting to make the film right now.

Halo has a projected release date of 2009 on IMDB, but that doesn't look like it will happen if pre-production hasn't even started on the film yet.

More news to come! Catch ya' later!

Master Chief is ready for his close-up.