‘Lord of the Rings’ Series in the Works at Warner Bros. — Maybe for Amazon?

What do you think about a TV series based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings?” Say Hobbit for yes, and Orc for no.

The feature-film side of Warner Bros. produced the LOTR films, and now the TV division is in early discussions for a TV series, with Amazon Studios emerging as a potential buyer.

But first they have to pass through Mordor — otherwise known as negotiations and development.

From The Hollywood Reporter:

Sources stress that a deal for a Lord of the Rings TV series is far from official. Talks are said to be focusing on rights issues with the Tolkein estate; the project has yet to even go out to search for a potential writer.

The news comes four months after Warner Bros. and the Tolkien estate settled an $80 million lawsuit after a five-year battle. That came after Warners offshoot New Line and the Tolkien estate waged a courtroom battle over profit participation from the feature film franchise that consisted of The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002) and The Return of the King (2003) as well as 2013 prequel The Hobbit. The property is a multi-billion-dollar worldwide franchise.

It was a messy court battle that apparently ended on friendly terms. From an earlier story in The Hollywood Reporter:

After five years of litigation, Warner Bros. and the estate of author J.R.R. Tolkien have announced in court that they have amicably resolved a fight over the digital exploitation of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

The Tolkien Estate and book publisher HarperCollins filed a $80 million lawsuit in 2012 alleging that Warners, its New Line subsidiary and Rings/Hobbit rightsholder Saul Zaentz Co. infringed copyright and breached contract by overstepping their authority. The plaintiffs claimed that a decades-old rights agreement entitled the studio to create only “tangible” merchandise based on the books, not other digital exploitations that the estate called highly offensive.

Sounds like the legal eagles got the job done. After all, in LOTR, don’t the eagles always show up at the last minute to save the day?

Images: Warner Bros. Studios

Don’t miss a thing: head over to my other home, as Social Media Manager at Family Theater Productions; and check out FTP’s Faith & Family Media Blog.