Dispute over movie LOTR museum

[Tuor of Gondolin]

A Dec. 1st article in Theonering.net says:

Tolkien party soured
By Claire Harvey
December 2, 2003

ONE ring ruled them all last night, as a magical fellowship of trolls, hobbits and film geeks united in Wellington to hail The Return of the King.

But even as 100,000 fans celebrated the world premiere of the final instalment in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Kiwi director Peter Jackson was fighting with the estate of Rings author JRR Tolkien.

Tolkien's estate is refusing to allow Jackson - tipped to win this year's Best Director Oscar - to create a Rings museum in Wellington.

Wrangles with the late author's family have marred the $4.7 billion-earning film trilogy, to the immense frustration of Jackson and Hollywood studio New Line Cinema. He wants to save the thousands of swords, suits of armour, costumes and sets used in the films in a museum but the estate's custodian Christopher Tolkien, who has refused to endorse the movies, won't give permission.

"The difficulty everybody has is the Tolkien estate," Jackson said.

"The problem is always a legal one. New Line Cinema don't have the legal authority to allow (the museum) to happen. That's kept by the Tolkien estate, and so the Tolkien estate so far have refused."

If he can't have a museum, Jackson wants a bronze statue of the film's characters in Wellington to thank the people of New Zealand for their support - and the $NZ300 million ($265 million) tax break they gave the producers. "We have appealed to (the Tolkien estate) at various times to do something for the community but they keep saying no," Jackson said.

New Line, which spent $US300million ($415 million) making the films, is already planning to continue its Rings success with an adaptation of Tolkien's novel The Hobbit.

More difficulties with the Tolkien estate were looming, said Jackson, who added that he would be keen to get involved after he finishes remaking King Kong in 2006. "New Line haven't actually talked to me about The Hobbit. I know there's difficulty about the rights, certainly if they want to talk to me about it I'd be keen," he said.
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While you can understand CT misgivings, such as that a movie-based LOTR museum might come to be seen as the "official" Middle-earth interpretation, can't some compromise be reached? Say, making it clear it's an interpretation, perhaps having part of the museum devoted to other views and artistic interpretations. You could even have various guest lecturers (say, Jerseydevil and Black Breathalizer).