Christian Fiction News: Tolkein's Time Warner Suit

The estate of "Lord of the Rings" creator J.R.R. Tolkien is suing the film studio that released the trilogy based on his books, claiming the company hasn't paid it a penny from the estimated $6 billion the films have grossed worldwide.

The suit, filed Monday, claims New Line was required to pay 7.5 percent of gross receipts to Tolkien's estate and other plaintiffs, who contend they only received an upfront payment of $62,500 for the three movies before production began.

The writer's estate, a British charity dubbed The Tolkien Trust, and original "Lord of the Rings" publisher HarperCollins filed the lawsuit against New Line Cinema in Los Angeles Superior Court. If successful, it could block the long-awaited prequel to the films[The Hobbit.]

..."The Tolkien trustees do not file lawsuits lightly, and have tried unsuccessfully to resolve their claims out of court," Steven Maier, an attorney for the Tolkien estate based in Britain, said in a statement. "New Line has not paid the plaintiffs even one penny of its contractual share of gross receipts despite the billions of dollars of gross revenue generated by these wildly successful motion pictures."

-By ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writer,

My thoughts: Are you serious? Not a penny?

Your thoughts...

Show Me that You Love Me

Ever get to the end of a project, then wonder was this the best use of my talent? I am in the final editing phase of a novel, but lately my heart has been tugging at me. My story is good. No complaints. But...this year I want to go a level higher in my writing. So when I received John Legend's Live from Philadelphia CD from my godmother for my birthday that tug turned into a bonafide-only-Dee-could-write purpose.

So I have begun another rewrite to make sure I infuze what I know God has been telling me to say, but I felt it was too uncommercial/unmarketable to discuss. Social justice--unlike anyother thing in my life right now--makes me want to write stronger. Be better. Affect the world. Now I wonder. Has anyone else been changed?

Continue reading "Show Me that You Love Me" »