The unfortunate truth is that Tolkien is only popular because of Middle-earth Enterprises. IF the Tolkien estate had complete control over the works then games such as The One Ring would not exist. Neither would any of the board games, computer games or films based on Tolkien's works. The academic study of his father's work seems to be all the Christopher Tolkien will allow the Tolkien Estate to approve - which basically boils down to a few authorised biographies, derivative works such as maps and the encyclopaedia type books, and Christopher Tolkien's own edits of his father's notes (Histories / Lost Tales). He does not seem to approve of "popularising" his father's work.James Harrison wrote:That is a poor point of view. Sadly if a Balrog is depicted from the films Tolkien Estates gets 0% or any revinue from it... they got 0% of film revenue - they (and thus Tolkiens family) only get money on things derived from the books, not the films...
On of the reason's I'm not a lover of Tolkien Enterprises; now I understand it they are just about money. Tolkien Estates is about Tolkiens work, preserving it and letting it flourish as intended...
They have had legal settlements from Warner Brothers / Middle-earth Enterprises in the past (£133m in 2009) where the license boundaries have been pushed, so to say that the family has received nothing is a little misleading. I know that some revenues from the films went to the Tolkien Estate. The estate has also had the revenues from the sale of the books (original, edited and derivative) since the death of JRR Tolkien.
I may not like the legal to-and-fro between the two parties, but I do recognise that the appeal of Middle-earth has come as much from Saul Zaentz as from the Tolkien family (not counting the Professor himself).
