'Hobbit' walks on as Tolkien estate settles lawsuit

Take a deep breath, hobbit-lovers. One cannot simply walk into Mordor, but one can now make big-budget movies about trying.

New Line Cinema and the Tolkien Trust, a group safeguarding the creative rights of late author J.R.R. Tolkien, have come to a confidential settlement that will allow movie versions of Tolkien's works to proceed.

Members of the Tolkien Trust had accused New Line of "creative accounting," hiding profits from the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy in order to avoid paying the author's beneficiaries. The group had asked for $150 million and the right to halt any future works based on Tolkien's work.

They based that on the more than $6 billion grossed worldwide by "The Fellowship of the Ring," "The Two Towers" and "Return of the King," of which money the Trust received nothing.

The settlement means work can proceed unhindered on "The Hobbit," a two-film adaptation of Tolkien's prequel to "The Lord of the Rings," in which Bilbo Baggins defeats a dragon and finds the One Ring.

Peter Jackson, who directed the first three films, is writing the movie adaptation of "The Hobbit," with Guillermo del Toro attached to direct.

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