There is joy in Middle Earth as the suit over the accounting of the immense take of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings film cycle has been settled. (Nikki Finke says it was nearly $6 billion.) The terms are being kept secret, but this is a separate matter from the already settled action between New Line and Peter Jackson, which ended his relationship with former New Line Prez Bob Shaye under some extremely acrimonious conditions. This means there’s nothing likely to stand in the way of Guillermo del Toro’s upcoming films of Tolkien’s The Hobbit.
It’s also worth recalling that this isn’t the first time the Tolkiens — who were partners in the suit with the Rupert Murdoch’s Harper Collins publishing megalith — have been allegedly deprived of what’s rightfully theirs and been involved in successful legal action. The question is, what’s more corrupting — the power of cash or you-know-what?
