Middle-earth Enterprises, formerly Tolkien Enterprises, is a company which functions as a division of the Embracer Group. It controls the worldwide film, stage, and merchandise rights to J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.
History[]
Tolkien sold the rights to his published Middle-earth works to United Artists in 1968, who in turn sold them to Saul Zaentz in 1976. In 1978, Tolkien Enterprises produced the animated version of The Lord of the Rings, directed by Ralph Bakshi, which covered approximately the first half of The Lord of the Rings. In 2001 - 2003 Peter Jackson filmed the whole Lord of the Rings trilogy under license from Tolkien Enterprises, which would win 17 Academy Awards and numerous other international and national awards.
In 1999, Tolkien Enterprises ended their licensing agreement with Iron Crown Enterprises for role-playing games set in Middle-earth, after Iron Crown Enterprises ceased developing new products for this line. This contributed to Iron Crown Enterprises' filing for bankruptcy in 2001. Tolkien Enterprises then made a new licensing agreement with Decipher Inc. for their Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game.
In 2002, Tolkien Enterprises took part in making the video game The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, which was based on the book, not on the film. Then, in 2003, Tolkien Enterprises took part in the making of The Hobbit video game, which was for a younger age group.
Following this, in August 2004, Tolkien Enterprises sued New Line Cinema for over $20 million in unpaid royalties, based on the difference between gross and net profits for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, and the exact terms of the royalty arrangement between Tolkien Enterprises and New Line Cinema. An out-of-court settlement was reached in August 2005, details of which were not released.
In 2022 the Swedish holding company Embracer Group bought Middle-earth Enterprises, along with the rights for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit adaptations.[1]
It was announced in May of 2023 that Amazon Games acquired rights to develop a The Lord of the Rings MMO video game, equivalent to The Lord of the Rings Online.[2]
Licensing[]
Games such as The Lord of the Rings: Conquest and Electronic Arts' The Battle for Middle-earth series, and LEGO The Lord of the Rings: The Video Game are licensed by Middle-earth Enterprises, and so feature copyrighted property from the films such as Howard Shore's soundtrack, the gold title wordmark, and/or resemblances of characters in the film trilogy.
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, its sequel, and The Lord of the Rings: War of the Ring are examples of video games not licensed under them, and thus share no artistic resemblance to the films.
Translations[]
| Foreign Language | Translated name |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | Midde-aarde Ondernemings |
| Albanian | Toka e mesme Ndërmarrjet |
| Armenian | Միջերկիր Ձեռնարկություններ |
| Azerbaijani | Orta yer Şirkətlər |
| Basque | Erdialdeko Lurraldea Enpresak |
| Belarusian Cyrillic | Міжзем'е кампаніямі |
| Bengali | মধ্য পৃথিবী মালিকানায় ? |
| Bosnian | Srednja zemlja Preduzeća |
| Bulgarian Cyrillic | Средна земя предприятия |
| Catalan | Terra Mitjana Empreses |
| Cebuano | Tunga-tunga-yuta Mga negosyo |
| Chinese | 中土大陸 企业 |
| Croatian | Međuzemlje Poduzeća |
| Danish | Midgård Virksomheder |
| Dutch | Midden-Aarde Ondernemingen |
| Esperanto | Mez-Tero Entreprenoj |
| Estonian | Keskmaa Ettevõtete |
| Finnish | Keski-Maa Yritykset |
| French | Terre du Milieu Entreprises |
| Galician | Terra Media Empresas |
| Georgian | შუამიწეთის საწარმოები |
| German | Mittelerde Unternehmenen |
| Greek | Μέσης Γης Επιχειρήσεις |
| Gujarati | મધ્યમ પૃથ્વી કંપનીઓ |
| Hebrew | הארץ התיכונה יוזמות |
| Hindi | मध्य पृथ्वी उद्यमों |
| Hungarian | Középfölde Vállalatok |
| Italian | Terra di Mezzo le imprese |
| Japanese | 中つ国企業 |
| Kazakh | Ортаңғы-жер Кәсіпорындар (Cyrillic) Ortañğı-jer Käsiporındar (Latin) |
| Kannada | ಮಧ್ಯಮ ಭೂಮಿಯ ಉದ್ಯಮಗಳು |
| Kyrgyz Cyrillic | Борбордук-Жер ишканалар |
| Latvian | Viduszeme Uzņēmumi |
| Macedonian Cyrillic | Блискиот Земјата Претпријатија |
| Marathi | मध्य पृथ्वी उपक्रम |
| Mongolian Cyrillic | Миддлэ-эартh Аж ахуйн нэгжүүд |
| Nepalese | मध्य-पृथ्वीमा उद्यम |
| Norwegian | Midgard Bedrifter |
| Persian | سرزمین میانی بنگاههای |
| Portuguese | Terra Média Indústrias |
| Romanian | Pământul de Mijloc Intreprinderi |
| Russian | Средиземье Предприятий |
| Serbian | Средња земља Предузећа (Cyrillic) Srednja zemlja Preduzeća (Latin) |
| Sinhalese | මිද්ද්ලෙ-එඅර්ථ් ව්යවසායන් |
| Slovak | Stredozem podniky |
| Slovenian | Srednji svet Podjetja |
| Spanish | Tierra Media Empresas |
| Swedish | Midgård Företagen |
| Tamil | மத்திய புவி நிறுவனங்கள் |
| Telugu | మిద్ద్లె-ఎఅర్థ ఎంటర్ప్రైజెస్ |
| Thai | มิดเดิลเอิร์ธรัฐวิสาหกิจ |
| Turkish | Orta Dünya Sirketler |
| Ukrainian Cyrillic | Середзем'я Підприємства |
External link[]
- Middle-earth Enterprises Website Official Website
References[]