LOS ANGELES (AP) Pay up, Frodo.
So says Saul Zaentz, the Hollywood producer who has sued New Line Cinema for $20 million in royalties from the blockbuster ``Lord of the Rings'' trilogy.
According to the suit, filed Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Zaentz says New Line Cinema owes him that amount based on a partial audit of the first movie in the series, ``The Fellowship of the Ring.''
He also wants an additional $700,000 in compensatory damages.
New Line officials refused comment.
Zaentz had held the rights to the J.R.R. Tolkien story since 1976 and said he optioned them for a percentage of the profits from the Peter Jackson movies, which grossed a total of nearly $3 billion worldwide.
Zaentz has a history of legal wrangles.
In the 1980s, he fought ugly and public legal battles with his ex-wife over the profits from ``Amadeus'' and with John Fogerty, the frontman for Creedence Clearwater Revival, a group he once oversaw as the head of Fantasy Records.
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