The Saga of the Film and TV Rights to Tolkien’s Works

The film rights to The Lord of the Rings and part of the film rights to The Hobbit are now on-sale. Having no impact of the television rights, which were leased to Amazon separately, these rights could either land with Amazon (who could then produce films based on The Lord of the Rings appendices via MGM) or back with Warners, which would make future productions smoother to make on their end.

Recent newsbreak about the Saul Zaentz company selling its rights to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit ^[1]Cynthia Littleton, ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Hobbit’ Film and Gaming Rights Up for Sale (EXCLUSIVE), Variety, 10 February 2022. has everyone’s undergarments in a twist, so I’ve decided to try and make sense of the admittedly very complex, decade-spanning saga that is the rights to Tolkien’s works. The literary rights obviously reside with Tolkien’s Estate. We’re interested in the rights to adapt Tolkien’s works to film and television, and I think the most important thing to understand is that those two things aren’t one and the same: the rights to adapt Tolkien’s works to cinema and the rights to adapt Tolkiens works to a series are separate.

Tolkien himself sold the cinema rights to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit in 1969, and they ended up with the estate of the late producer Saul Zaentz,^[2]Zaentz was one of the most prominent independent producers in cinema history, having tied the records for most academy awards for a producer – four including the Irvin G. Thalbarg Award – … Continue reading who produced Ralph Bakshi’s The Lord of the Rings.^[3]Zaentz in fact got hold of the rights when Bakshi asked him to back his film up when MGM, who held the rights at the time, wanted to shut-it down. He leased the rights to Warner Brothers to make the six Middle Earth films, and since his death, his estate had provided the rights to make the upcoming The War of the Rohirrim.^[4]Zaentz had originally leased the rights to Miramax, to whom he owed  a favour for bailing-out The English Patient. Zaentz had since revealed that Miramax’ decision to put The Lord of the Rings … Continue reading These are the rights that are now being put on sale. Zaentz estate does not hold the TV rights nor the rights to make films off of any other Tolkien book: these all remain with Tolkien’s Estate.

The rights to adapt Tolkien’s works to a television series – defined as a streaming or TV series exceeding a length of eight episodes – was not sold in Tolkien’s lifetime, and remain with the Estate. When the film rights were sold, the contract gave their holders first bidding at the TV rights, but Christopher Tolkien had spent most of his life objecting to such a sale, as well as to the sale of any additional film rights. These had been leased to Amazon in 2017, in a similar fashion to how Zaentz leased his rights to Warners. Exactly which works Amazon has the rights to is unclear: they have The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, but they also seem to have access to the relevant chapters of Unfinished Tales.^[5]Based on The Lord of the Rings alone, Amazon could not have depicted the star-shape of the island of Numenore, nor the names and locations of its various settlements, nor could they hope to adapt it … Continue reading

There’s another fairly negligible issue of distribution rights: Saul Zaentz had the right to produce a film adaptation of The Hobbit, but not the right to distribute it; that right resides with MGM, who had recently been purchased by Amazon. For the production of The Hobbit film trilogy, they had extended these rights in favour of getting to distribute the films in certain foreign territories and for TV airings.^[6]This curious splitting of the rights led to Jackson delaying the adaptation of The Hobbit – which he pitched before The Lord of the Rings – being delayed for a later prequel. Since MGM … Continue reading Its important to stress that MGM do NOT have the rights to make a film or a TV adaptation of The Hobbit (nor – as has been suggested – have the rights to Hobbits), but they do own the rights to distribute it.

What now happens to the film rights is anyone’s guess: the rights include tie-in games and allow the making of additional films off of The Lord of the Rings appendices, like a War of Angmar film or a film about Eorl’s oath to Cirion, the Kinstrife and one or two other subjects. Either Warners would prove eager to retain them – having direct control over the rights as opposed to leasing them from Zaentz would make producing films and games much smoother – or Amazon nabs them. If the latter happens, it means that any future films made in the Middle Earth series will have the MGM logo, which half of the franchise already has anyway. Warners will probably still be involved in any adaptation that uses their production design, just as they are involved in the Amazon show.

Appendix: The film rights to Middle Earth – a history

When Tolkien completed The Lord of the Rings, he was nearly 60 years old and facing retirement from University. The book did well, but its popularity wouldn’t explode until almost a decade later, when the counter-culture movement got their hands on copies, mostly bootlegs of which Tolkien saw no profit. Therefore, when the issue of a film adaptation came up, Tolkien saw a chance for profit that would make his retirement a bit more comfortable and possibly help set-up his grandchildren. That is not to say that Tolkien saw this strictly in mercenary terms: at the sign of the first offer that came to him, when Al Brodax pitched an animated film in June 1956, Tolkien told his publisher he’d “”welcome the idea” of a film, “quite apart from the glint of money.”^[7]Humphrey Carpenter (ed.), The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, (1981, Boston: Houghton Mifflin), #202 to Christopher and Faith Tolkien, 11 September 1957.

Nevertheless, Tolkien and his publishers agreed on a simple policy: Cash or Kudos. That is to say, either Tolkien becomes involved creatively with the film and has veto right over creative decisions, or he gets paid a hefty sum of money to keep quiet and let the filmmakers have their way. Very shortly after the Al-Brodax pitch, another wannabie-producer approached Tolkien: “The godfather of the Geek”, Forrest J. Ackerman. He had synopsis for an adaptation for wannabie-screenwriter Morton Grady Zimmerman. Although he procrasinated in the talks with Ackerman, which produced a 55-page story treatment for a mixed-media film – Tolkien did think this was a serious offer; it wasn’t. Both Zimmerman and Ackerman were complete amateurs in film production, and Ackerman’s futile attempts to secure any funding failed miserably. Indeed, the project was terminated not over creative differences, in spite of Tolkien’s copious and acrimonious notes on the treatment, but rather over Ackerman’s inability to produce the funds necessary to extend negotiations for another six months. Tolkien had tried the kudos approach, and it didn’t work.^[8]Stuart D Lee, A Companion to J. R. R. Tolkien (Wiley: 2020). pp. 518–521. [Herein: Lee, Tolkien Companion].

When he was next approached circa 1964, this time for the rights to The Hobbit, Tolkien went with the “cash” approach: he’d lease the rights to producer William L. Snyder for three years and let him make the (animated) film as he wills. Its telling that in spite of this, Tolkien couldn’t contain his curiosity about Snyder’s work and even inquired as to the progress being made. There was none: Snyder’s adaptation stalled to exploit a loophole in the contract, he made a cheap, 12-minute short which was shown to a few people in a screening room in New York in 1967 in fullfilment of the contract. The rights were then sold back to Tolkien. So “cash” didn’t work either.^[9]Ibid. Cf. Brian J Robb, Paul Simpson, Middle-earth Envisioned: The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings: On Screen, On Stage, and Beyond (2013: Race Point Publishing), pp. 99 ff.

The third time, Tolkien had decided on a slightly different approach: still cash, but this time so much cash as to convince him to sell the rights in perpetuity: he’d have nothing to do creatively with any film adaptation, although he’d get a precentage off of it. As was said earlier, this was just for the film rights, although it permitted the making of a series of up to eight episodes and provided first-bidding for the TV rights. At the time, the prospect of doing Tolkien’s stories on television was inconcievable. Well, not quite: in 1964 Tolkien had apopleptically rejected a suggestion of the BBC’s to turn The Lord of the Rings into a Thunderbirds-esque TV show.^[10]Ibid, pp. pp. 65 ff.

The film rights, however, entered a lengthy negotiation with producer Samuel L. Gelfman of Katzka-Bernie film, working for what was then one of the major studios: United Artists. Gelfman had actually spoken to Tolkien about the film rights years prior, and they seem to have got along well although nothing came of it at the time. Not that in the then-present Gelfman got the rights off of Tolkien all that quickly: it took until 1969 for negotiations to conclude. The Beatles’ interest in starring in a Lord of the Rings film helmed by David Lean or Stanley Kubrick occured during this period, although its unclear if Tolkien had indeed got wind of it and threaten to pull out of the negotiations or if it just fell apart because of the band members’ inability to secure a director.^[11]Ibid. “1968-2018 – Il y a 50 ans, Le Seigneur des Anneaux et les Beatles au cinéma”. JRRVF, 2018.

After the rights were sold, writers Peter Shaffer and John Boorman each wrote scripts for a Lord of the Rings film, but neither got off of the ground. Boorman’s script (read here) in particular, was still being written with a view to having the Beatles star the film, but by 1969 it became known that the band had split for good, and Boorman’s script was rejected for overly-expensive special effects required. He had shopped it briefly to Disney, but they ultimately also dropped it because of the violence: Boorman’s surrogate film, Excalibur, would be rated R. In his script, Boorman actually calls for a cameo of Tolkien’s as a framing device for the story, and had held a short correspondence with the professor towards that end, which seems to have been rather amiacable, with Tolkien showing great interest in the film: even after having washed his hands of the film rights, he still couldn’t contain his curiosity.

When animator Ralph Bakshi learned that Boorman’s film was a no-go, he tried his luck with United Artists. He convinced them to extend the rights to MGM before a change of management in the latter company resulted in Bakshi calling Saul Zaentz for aid. Zaentz would make the film with United Artists, although since at the moment Zaentz and Bakshi were not touching The Hobbit, the distribution rights got left, forgotten about, at MGM.^[12]Lee, Tolkien Companion, pp. 518–521. Bakshi started developing the film on his own, but eventually hired Chris Conkling to help with the writing: Conkling and Bakshi eventually decided to make two parts, beginning with “The Lord of the Rings: Part One. The Fellowship” which, at the behest of United Artists, was eventually released as “The Lord of the Rings.”^[13]Ross Plesset, “The Lord of the Rings: The Animated Films”. Cinefantastique, Vol. 34 (February 2002), pp. 52–53 While the film made a respectable $30.5 million, there were concerns of a fall-off for the second entry and the studio would only provide a budget half the size of the first film, causing Bakshi to quit and leave the project unfinished.^[14]“THE LORD OF THE RINGS (1978)”. AFI Catalog. Zaentz – now left with the rights, minus the aforementioned Hobbit distribution rights – would later recall this as the worst experience of his career, and it was a major consideration in his reluctance to have more adaptations made in the intervening twenty years.

At the same time as Bakshi’s film, Rankin/Bass were developing two animated TV specials based on Tolkien’s works: these did not use the TV rights nor the film rights – they were done using a loophole in the US publication of the book (i.e. the bootlegs that the hippies were reading in the sixties) which resulted in Tolkien’s books being public domain states-side until 1996. The latter of Rankin/Bass’ specials: “The Return of the King: A Story of Hobbits” was actually in development while Bakshi was still filming, and he and Zaentz teamed up with the Tolkien Estate to try and stop it from airing so as to not clash with their then-putative second part. The lawsuit only suceeded in securing broadcasting in Canada and getting the title changed from Rankin’s original “Frodo: The Hobbit II” to the title of the book on which the work is based, plus the subtitle “a story of Hobbits.”^[15]Jim Korkis,“Animation Ancedotes #136: The Tolkien Battle”. Cartoon Research, 15 November 2013. “The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation Presents: Arthur Rankin, … Continue reading

Since then, many filmmakers tried their luck: Boorman inquired about it at least two more times, Mark Ordesky sent Zaentz a letter, George Lucas reported inability to get the rights off of Zaentz led to the creation of Willow, ITV Granda wanted to make a TV miniseries in the 1990s, possibly with Franco Zaffarelli and Sean Connery starring. But Zaentz wouldn’t budge until Harvey Weinstein pulled a favour on him for having saved his most recent film, The English Patient. Harvey had an up-and-coming director interested in adapting The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings: Peter Jackson!

The bifurcated issue of The Hobbit rights soon became appearant to Harvey, and so they proceeded with The Lord of the Rings. As we all know, Harvey ultimately put the project on a turnaround, partially because he dreaded the paycheck necessarily to extend the lease on the rights further, and they ended-up being made as the trilogy we all know and love at New Line. Zaentz got a precentage off of the backend, but declined to have an official credit.

The Hobbit followed, with the rights issue again proving a hindrance. Part of the issue is that in the intervening years, MGM had gone bankrupt – their last big film was the box office bomb, Rob Roy – and they needed to sort out their financial woes before a film could be made; “and whenever it looked like a deal was getting close, MGM would run into more trouble”, recalls Jackson who was now producing the film. He had in fact selected a director, Guillermo Del Toro, with whom he was writing the films. Eventually, the delays got so numerous so as to completely dishearten Del Toro, who opted to leave and make Pacific Rim, and Jackson took over, with MGM still unable to commit. Only a few months later was it made possible to greenlight the films, with MGM taking over distribution in some foreign territories and TV airings. This result in a slightly crunched preproduction timeline – a considerable but less-than-desireable nine months – for The Hobbit. This issue had been somewhat blown out-of-proportion by detractors of the films, but that’s beyond the scope of this essay.