‘Lord of the Rings’ in royalty suit

Time Warner Inc.’s New Line Cinema unit must defend a lawsuit brought by “The Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson, who claims he hasn’t received his share of the proceeds from the movie trilogy.

Senior U.S. District Judge Ronald Lew denied eight of 11 requests by New Line for rulings that Jackson’s claims don’t represent genuine legal issues that need to be tried.

Jackson sued New Line in 2005, claiming that the studio wrongly calculated his share of the proceeds. “The Return of the King,” the third film in the trilogy, grossed more than $1 billion worldwide.