Movie mogul takes New Line to court

Peter Jackson

Lord of the Rings distributor New Line Cinema is facing a new lawsuit from US movie mogul Saul Zaentz.

Zaentz acquired the rights to JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit novels in 1976 and licensed them to Miramax Film Corp, which later assigned the licence to New Line.

He says under the licence he should receive a share of the US$3 billion (NZ$3.88b) receipts from the films and the right to audit New Line's books.

In a Los Angeles court on Friday, Zaentz asked a judge to force New Line to co-operate with an audit and pay unspecified damages. A New Line spokeswoman had no comment.

Director Peter Jackson has sued New Line over profits from the first film.

- NZPA