A ring of mire

"That's where the studios have wreaked havoc on the system," says Siegel, explaining that studios like to include non-negotiable clauses, which can make it hard for "this profit threshold to have been achieved. There's a tendency for authors and people around authors to feel they're especially bullied, but authors don't have the leverage that an actor or director has in a negotiation, so actors and directors are getting better definitions of gross and arrangements than authors."

Of course, the Tolkiens do have one giant club in their arsenal. Part of the remedy they're seeking is to terminate New Line's rights to Tolkien's books, including the two "Hobbit" films, which are now in the works with "Pan's Labyrinth" director Guillermo del Toro.

"I think they have every right to terminate, " says Eskenazi. "If New Line engaged in gross misconduct, which I believe they did in this case, are you forced to continue in business with them?"

Still, I bet you Warner Bros. isn't treating "Harry Potter's" J.K. Rowling this way.

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rachel.abramowitz @latimes.com