Tolkien, J.R.R.

BROADSIDE: THE MOST WELCOMED PRESS RELEASE THAT BALLANTINE BOOKS HAS EVER RECEIVED! [...] FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - THE LORD OF THE RINGS FILM CONTRACT - SIGNED.

London and New York: George Allen & Unwin Ltd. / Ballantine Books, 1969. Press release, issued in haste by Ballantine Books, reproducing George Allen & Unwin's UK release (dated 16 October, 1969) announcing the sale of the film rights to The Lord of the Rings to American film studio United Artists. "The agreement that has been reached has the full approval of Professor Tolkien, and he, like his publishers, looks forward in due course to hearing from United Artists further details about what must undoubtedly be regarded as a major event in the cinema of the nineteen seventies." According to Tolkien Gateway, UA acquired the rights for just over £100,000. After a Peter Shaffer script was abandoned, they commissioned John Boorman to write a screenplay, though by 1970, it was deemed too expensive and ultimately never produced. The prospect of film adaptation was considered and abandoned by various parties (Denis O'Dell, Stanley Kubrick, and Michaelangelo Antonioni) until UA sold most of their rights to Tolkien's work to the Saul Zaentz Company (now Middle-earth Enterprises) in 1976, who have since licensed all subsequent authorized adaptations of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

In 1976, a young animated filmmaker, Ralph Bakshi, reached out to Zaentz (who had helped Bakshi finance Fritz the Cat) about adapting The Lord of the Rings as a two-part film. With a $7 million budget, Bakshi's film was produced by Zaentz, with a screenplay by Peter S. Beagle, and distribution by UA in 1978. Despite being a financial success (it grossed over $30 million), it "failed to overwhelm audiences," and UA cancelled the sequel.

None of this could have been anticipated by Ballantine or Allen & Unwin in 1969, who clearly (erroneously) anticipated rapid results. After the press release citing speculation about a Lord of the Rings film and the series' fanatical popularity on both sides of the Atlantic, Ballantine who held mass market paperback rights in the U.S., published in September, 1970 a boxed set of the books in anticipation of a film release. It took nearly a decade after this press release was issued for a Lord of the Rings film to come to life, and while it may not have been critically received by a broad swath of Tolkien's fanbase, it did make an impression on a teenage Peter Jackson, who discovered Tolkien's work after seeing Bakshi's film.

Rare, and possibly unrecorded, with no copies (of this, or the original Allen & Unwin press release) found by us in the trade, at auction, or in the holdings of any OCLC member institution, and not mentioned in Hammond & Anderson's J.R.R. Tolkien – A Descriptive Bibliography. Item #6279

Original broadside, with text printed in black and brown on white stock, measuring 23cm x 42cm (9" x 16.5"). Four old horizontal folds from mailing, a few creases smoothed-out, with a few tiny edge tears, and some subtle toning below the lowest fold; Very Good.

Price: $1,250.00