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Embracer Group acquires Lord of The Rings and Hobbit IP

https://embracer.com/release/embrac...d-the-hobbit-literary-works-by-j-r-r-tolkien/

Embracer Group AB (”Embracer”), through its wholly owned subsidiary Freemode[1], has entered into an agreement to acquire Middle-earth Enterprises, a division of The Saul Zaentz Company, which owns a vast intellectual property catalogue and worldwide rights to motion pictures, video games, board games, merchandising, theme parks and stage productions relating to the iconic fantasy literary works The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, as well as matching rights in other Middle-earth-related literary works authorized by the Tolkien Estate and HarperCollins, which have yet to be explored.

Back in February the rumored asking price was a cool 2 billie. And the rumor also said it included pretty much what is said above so it stands to reason that the purchase price was around the 2B mark.

https://variety.com/2022/film/news/lord-of-the-rings-hobbit-tolkien-zaentz-rights-sale-1235176036/It

The Zaentz Co. holdings encompass rights to exploit “LOTR” and “The Hobbit” properties in film, video games, merchandising, live events and theme parks. It also includes limited matching rights should the Tolkien estate decide to make movies or other content based on two compilations of Tolkien writings that were published after his death in 1973: “The Silmarillion” and “The Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-Earth.”

Does not include distribution rights to previous movies or TV rights (Amazon paid 250MM for those, which presumably include animated and live action, up to 8 episodes per season).
 

Nobody_Important

“Aww, it’s so...average,” she said to him in a cold brick of passion
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I've only got a passing understanding of Tolkien rights. Let me see if I got this... Amazon is making some show based on Tolkien stuff that isn't The Hobbit or the Lord of the Rings Trilogy proper, it's based on Silmarillion and others.

These rights... are for Hobbit and LOTR. For 2 billion? So they can make games off this license... cool... whatever... and they can remake The Hobbit and LOTR movies? Or try to turn them into a TV show I guess? Seems like a losing proposition, what am I missing?
 
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