The estate of “Lord of the Rings” creator J.R.R. Tolkien is suing the film studio that released the trilogy based on his books. They claim the company failed to pay some of the gross profits for the films, which made amazing profits.

Tolkien’s estate, a British charity called The Tolkien Trust, and original “Lord of the Rings” publisher HarperCollins filed the lawsuit against New Line Cinema on Monday. The lawsuit claims that New Line was required to pay 7.5 percent of gross receipts from the films to Tolkien’s estate and the other plaintiffs.

The plaintiffs are hoping to get over $150 million in compensation, plus unknown punitive damages and a court order that would give the estate the right to terminate any rights New Line may have to make more films based on Tolkien’s works.

This could jeopardize the 2-part Hobbit movie they’re planning. Peter Jackson has already signed on as executive producer on the project, and it was slated to begin production next year, with a planned release for 2010 and 2011.

Stay tuned on this one.

[AOL]