Swedish gaming giant Embracer unveiled a series of new purchases on Thursday, with Middle Earth Enterprises – part of The Saul Zaentz Company – garnering the most attention. The company, based in California, owns, according to its own statement, the rights to film, spin-offs and stage rights in certain literary works of JRR Tolkien, including the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and “The Hobbit”.
Does Embracer own the books?
That is perhaps the easiest question to answer, because the answer is no. The rights to publish the books are owned by the Tolkien family and Harper Collins, which also applies to other Tolkien books in Middle-earth such as “The Silmarillion”. However, Embracer is said to have so-called matching rights, that is, if someone else bids for the rights, Embracer can match it, according to Polygon.
American film producer Saul Zaentz (1921–2014) bought the film rights to Tolkien’s work in 1976. Stock photography.
Does Embracer own the film rights?
Here it is a little more unclear. There has been some legal wrangling over it. Warner Bros, through New Line Cinema, bought the film rights to the works in the 1990s from Zaentz. However, the agreement included a clause that the film studio had to actively develop the brand – that is, come up with new films. Last year stated Variety that the Zaentz company considered that the rights have therefore been returned, since there has been no film since 2014. But Warner Bros thought otherwise, and plans to release the animated film “The lord of the rings: The war of the Rohirrim” in 2024.
The TV rights then?
Well. When Saul Zaentz bought the catalog of trademarks surrounding Tolkien’s works in 1976, there was an exception for the rights to make television series of more than eight episodes. That allowed Amazon to negotiate the TV series rights directly with the Tolkien family for “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” which premieres in early September.
The ensemble cast for Amazon’s big bet on the TV series “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”
So what does Embracer own?
Embracer themselves state that they can explore the possibilities of making other films on classic characters from Tokien’s works, such as the wizard Gandalf or the elf Galadriel. In addition, Embracer expects to be able to sell lots of stuff, think key rings and t-shirts. Embracer also owns the board game maker Asmodee, which made board games based on Tolkien’s works. The Swedish gaming giant can probably also license out the rights to an amusement park with a Middle-earth theme.
An image from the upcoming “Gollum” game. Press photo.
And games then?
Embracer is first and foremost a game developer and publisher. Several successful games have previously been released based on the world of Tokyo, including the multimillion-selling “Shadow of” series, and Daedalic Entertainment is currently working on a game about Gollum. The acquisition of Middle Earth Enterprises means as follows The Verge that Embracer can in the future ask one of its roughly 120 game studios to put together games based on the new rights.