Still rules Middle-earth, Warner Bros. Claim while Asserting their Right On LOTR Film Rights

Warner Bros. Vs The Zaentz Co.

Warner Bros. declared that they still rule the Middle- Earth referring to the film rights for “The Lord of the Rings.” The Zaentz Co. and Warner Bros. are currently in the middle of a tussle. The two studios are keeping this disagreement private. Warner Bros. recently stated that they control the Lord of the Rings universe while the Zaentz’ production are trying to buy the rights. The Zaentz Co. are quiet about this whole issue. And their representatives refused to make any comments as well.

The Lord of the Rings | Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.

Warner Bros’. Comments

The Warner Bros. decided to open up about the issue. New Line Cinema, a  film production studio and a production label of the Warner Bros owned the rights of the franchise for over two decades. This includes both animated and live action film rights. The studio is working on an anime film ‘The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim’. This anime will take place during the middle earth, a Warner Brother spokesperson opened up. Warner Bros. dropped the first production picture for the same on February 15.

Why the Disagreements Now?

Warner Bros. has been associated with Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit for a long time. And in the past three decades they have also worked hard to maintain that association. They further revealed that they pay Zaentz Co. periodically, but the complete details regarding their agreements are kept in the dark for now.

The Lord of the Rings
Warner Bros.

The cause of these differences could be because of the Oscar winning series including “The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring” (2001), “The Two Towers” (2002) and “The Return of the King”. This might have caused disagreements over profits. Some say that the focus of Zaentz Co. changed after president Al Bendich and associate producer Saul Zaentz died in 2015.

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