Windfall For Rings Rights

A producer who didn’t work on The Lord of the Rings movies (which earned $2.9 billion) has earned $168 million from the project. “Saul Zaentz got the payout from film studio New Line because he bought the rights to JRR Tolkien’s books in 1976. The windfall is revealed in court papers after New Line settled a legal wrangle with Mr Zaentz, Variety said. He sued New Line for a further $20m, saying they miscalculated the box office royalties he was owed.”