Middle-earth Enterprises

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Middle-earth Enterprises logo

Middle-earth Enterprises, formerly Tolkien Enterprises (sometimes abbreviated to TE), is the division of the Saul Zaentz Company, created by Saul Zaentz to manage his licenses for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.

History

In 1969, J.R.R. Tolkien sold certain rights to United Artists, for US$250,000.[1] This was then resold to independent producer Saul Zaentz in 1976. Ralph Bakshi, who had tried to argue with United Artists over an animated feature film for years, found more success with Zaentz. With a budget of US$7 million, it became quite an endeavour.[2]

Tolkien Enterprises logo

After Bakshi's box office failure, and the non-success of the Rankin/Bass productions, Zaentz was reluctant to market another adaptation, but would grant license to Peter Jackson if he could find a production studio. After being turned down by Miramax, New Line Cinema went ahead with The Lord of the Rings.[3]

Ownership

Middle-earth Enterprises holds marketing and licensing rights for the titles The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and many proper names and short phrases from the books. As a consequence, they also own all stage and cinema rights to these two books, and the related merchandising rights.[4]

Current Licensees

External links

See also

References