I don’t know the whole story, but from what I understand the Tolkien estate signed an agreement with another party in the 60’s that had a clause (Matching Right) where if any further Tolkein IP film rights were available for purchase they would essentially have first dibs. The Tolkien estate are I guess piece-mealing stuff from those extended sources so Amazon can use it without opening up the properties for full rights purchasing.
I’d love it if someone else had more or better info on this.
I don’t know the whole story, but from what I understand the Tolkien estate signed an agreement with another party in the 60’s that had a clause (Matching Right) where if any further Tolkein IP film rights were available for purchase they would essentially have first dibs. The Tolkien estate are I guess piece-mealing stuff from those extended sources so Amazon can use it without opening up the properties for full rights purchasing.
I’d love it if someone else had more or better info on this.