Saul Zaentz To Sell Movie And Game Rights For Tolkien

The worlds of Middle-earth are about to look a bit different.

Saul Zaentz, has decided to release the movie, merchandising, gaming, and live event rights to “Lord of the Rings,” “The Hobbit” and other titles from author J.R.R. Tolkien are coming up for auction.

The Tolkien properties are projected to fetch at least $2 billion, based on recent high valuations for top-tier IP and content producers.

Saul Zaentz holds the rights for “LOTR” and “The Hobbit” properties in film, video games such as 바카라 사이트, merchandising, live events, and theme parks. It also includes limited matching rights should the Tolkien estate decide to make movies or other content based on two compilations of Tolkien writings that were published after his death in 1973: “The Silmarillion” and “The Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-Earth.”

Zaentz has held the rights since 1976, Zaentz established a new company called Tolkien Enterprises to handle the rights he’d acquired; the name was later changed to Middle-earth Enterprises to avoid confusion with the Tolkien Estate. Tolkien Enterprises entered into licensing and merchandising deals for various merchandise related to the property, including video games and a tabletop role-playing game from Iron Crown Enterprises (ICE). In 1997, Zaentz entered into an agreement with New Line Cinema for a new, live-action film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, to be directed by Peter Jackson. Released as three movies between 2001 and 2003, the trilogy made $3 billion at the box office.

Zaentz continued to benefit from various licensing deals related to books and films. Several years later, a complex deal was worked out between New Line, their new owners Warner Brothers and Hobbit rights-holders MGM to produce a film series based on The Hobbit. This trilogy was released between 2012 and 2014 to financial success, but with a much more muted critical reception. Zaentz died in January 2014, shortly after the release of the second film in the trilogy.

And it seems now with the Amazon series on the way the company decided now would be the time to offer up to anyone that would want to purchase and has the cash to do so.

My guess is we are going to see a bidding war with Amazon and Disney over the rights, that would make the most sense as 2 companies that would have the cash to do so. We will see how this all plays out, and also if and what this means for SSG and the License for LOTRO.