Lord of the Rings

[MASSENGALE MELANIE O]

On Tue, 28 Nov 1995 disney-comics at Minsk.DoCS.UU.SE wrote:

> ======================================================================
> Date: Mon, 27 Nov 1995 17:26:40 +0100 (MET)
> From: Fredrik Ekman <ekman at lysator.liu.se>
> Subject: Lord of the Rings
> 
> On Mon, 27 Nov 1995, Melanie wrote:
> > Of course, Disney also had the rights to Tolkien's _Lord of the Rings_, but
> > sold them to Ralph Bakshi (FRITZ THE CAT, WIZARDS) who botched that story. 
> 
> Wot? Disney had the rights to LOTR. I have not heard about this before. 
> Please elaborate.

I'm afraid I can't add much to it.  Disney bought the rights and then just
sat on the property for a number of years.  Of course, the story is very
elaborate and would be difficult to condense into a Disney feature.  I
think they felt overwhelmed by it and just decided to sell.  Given the
company's treatment of _Wind in the Willows_ and _Alice_, it was probably
a good idea.  OTOH, Bakshi's version was worse than a disappointment.  The
animation was pedestrian and he didn't bother to finish the story.  All
this after the high hopes generated by his comparatively well-executed
production, _Wizards_.

That's about all I can add to it.

Regards,

Melanie