MUMBAI: Moving forward with its two films of The Hobbit, Warner Bros. has resolved a legal battle with the heirs of J.R.R. Tolkien over a profit issue from the Lord of the Rings films.

Last year, two of Tolkien‘s children, Christopher, 84, and Priscilla, 80, sued New Line, now a unit of Warner Bros., for an estimated $150 million that they claimed had to come from the three Lord of the Rings films that amassed $2.96 billion at the worldwide box-office and around $3 billion from DVD and other ancillary sales, according to the lawsuit.

It has been claimed that the heirs had not received any money under a pre-existing licensing agreement that guaranteed them 7.5 per cent of the films‘ gross receipts

However, just days after the lawsuit was filed in February 2008 in Los Angeles County Superior Court by the Tolkien heirs and co-plaintiff HarperCollins Publishers, New Line became a division of Warner Bros., ceasing to operate as a separate studio under corporate parent Time Warner Inc.