Copyright Law and Box Office Fears
Steve L.

Thanks, Trudy, for all the great copyright info. I'm not sure whether to be sorry about the limitations on further LOTR-based stories or happy that we won't get deluged by low quality adventure stories that only clutter up and confuse the history of Middle-earth, cheapening it. I do think, though, that there is obviously a lot of potential for good writers to tell moving stories based on that history, such as by telling more fully the tales of Beren and Luthien, Turin, Eorl the Young, Durin and the fall of Moria, the last days of Numenor, and the kinstrife in Gondor.  I will check sometime to see what fan fiction is available.
I'm impressed and grateful, too, that Tolkien arranged to prevent Disney from getting film rights. That's pretty funny.

Regarding potential box office trouble, I hope that's not a serious possibility; but I plan to see the film first in Canada anyway and then again here in Seoul. It'd be a great pity if people reacted against New Zealand for not supporting the US militarily, and then boycotted LOTR. Both actions would be completely unreasonable. I also hope more people will urge the US government NOT to perpetuate a cycle of hatred and violence by meting out even more destruction in the Middle East, but rather to fight terrorism by reducing its causes (primarily, instances of unjust US intervention in that region). This is probably not an appropriate forum for discussing this topic, so I won't say anything more about it. But I am just starting to learn that there is far more going on in the Middle East than the media reports, including shocking atrocities that have been routinely ignored for decades for which the US is directly responsible.