Discussion:
Now much money is the Tolkien estate worth ?
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SCI-FI
2003-12-30 19:48:41 UTC
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How much money has the Tolkien estate
made off Hobbit/Lord of the Rings (Books and movies) ?
Chocoholic
2003-12-30 23:23:32 UTC
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Post by SCI-FI
How much money has the Tolkien estate
made off Hobbit/Lord of the Rings (Books and movies) ?
On the movies, nothing. Tolkien sold the movie rights entire in his own
lifetime. Only from the books (and other merchandise not directly tied to
the movies) does the Estate get royalties.

The question in the title and the question in the message are different.
Once you _have_ millions of dollars you can invest in other people's
businesses and let them make money for you. The answer to the first question
about total worth of the Estate can only be given by the trustees of the
Estate and possibly a few financial managers in their employ. The answer to
the second about royalty payments is probably known to Houghton Mifflin
since they have been the sole publisher from day one, but I don't think they
are likely to share. A good guess would be tens of millions for the
second -- LotR has sold close to 100 million copies to date and Tolkien
arranged a good deal for himself on the percentage shared. With decent
managament the answer to the first question about the total worth of the
Estate could well be hundreds of millions by now. Money over time has
tremendous power.
Barber
2003-12-31 06:42:11 UTC
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Post by Chocoholic
The answer to
the second about royalty payments is probably known to Houghton Mifflin
since they have been the sole publisher from day one, but I don't think they
are likely to share.
This is clearly not true. H-M was the US publisher, but not the UK publisher.
C'mon folks, this is simple history.

But let's assume that JRRT sold the movie rights in his lifetime and the estate
gets nothing from that per se. Interesting question remains: there's a fair bit
of merchandising going on now based on the movies (you can buy those little
green leaf-like elven clasps that now, in hindsight, were always so prominently
displayed, as well as Arwen's medallion, also prominently displayed, and of
course, the Ring on a Chain...) Wonder if the estate gets a cut of the
merchandising? It would make me feel better about the fact that my kids want to
spend 75 bucks each for their own R on a C.
TeaLady (Mari C.)
2003-12-30 23:27:50 UTC
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Post by SCI-FI
How much money has the Tolkien estate
made off Hobbit/Lord of the Rings (Books and movies) ?
Ask them.
--
mc
Flame of the West
2003-12-31 01:37:44 UTC
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Post by SCI-FI
How much money has the Tolkien estate
made off Hobbit/Lord of the Rings (Books and movies) ?
They get half the profits on all the books and a much smaller
cut of the movie profits. That adds up to quite a bit.


-- FotW

Reality is for those who cannot cope with Middle-earth.
Morgil
2003-12-31 11:21:13 UTC
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Post by SCI-FI
How much money has the Tolkien estate
made off Hobbit/Lord of the Rings (Books and movies) ?
Shouldn't you marry out of *love*, not money??

Morgil

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