Now you've done it, New Line

New Line Cinema is being sued over The Lord of the Rings movies again, this time by J.R.R. Tolkien's estate.

Co-plaintiffs, the trustees of British charity The Tolkien Trust and HarperCollins Publishers, on the 11th filed an action against New Line "for its failure to pay a contractually required gross profit participation in the three films" in Los Angeles Superior Court.

With nearly $6 billion (that's with a "B") in cumulative worldwide gross receipts, New Line hasn't paid the plaintiffs any portion of their gross profit participation.

The trustees' UK lawyer Steven Maier, of Manches LLP, said: "The Tolkien trustees do not file lawsuits lightly, and have tried unsuccessfully to resolve their claims out of court. But in this case, New Line has left them no option at all. New Line has not paid the plaintiffs even one penny of its contractual share of gross receipts despite the billions of dollars of gross revenue generated by these wildly successful motion pictures. To make matters worse, to date New Line has even prevented the plaintiffs from auditing the last two films of the series. The trustees are very aggrieved by New Line's arrogance."

They're seeking $150 million in compensatory damages, punitive damages, and, among other things, a declaration from the Court that the plaintiffs have a right to terminate any rights New Line has to Tolkien's works (that means The Hobbit) due to the breach of agreement.

The trustees' US lawyer Bonnie Eskenazi said, "New Line has brought new meaning to the phrase 'creative accounting.' I cannot imagine how on earth New Line will argue to a jury that these films could gross literally billions of dollars, and yet the creator's heirs, who are entitled to a share of gross receipts, don't get a penny."