JRR Tolkein's estate is suing New Line Cinema for $150 million (£76.9m) over claims it failed to pay royalties.
In the action filed at a court in Los Angeles, the estate said it had received nothing from the £3 billion made from Peter Jackson's Middle Earth blockbusters.
And it claims New Line Cinema only paid it an upfront fee of $62,500 (around £32,000) for the award-winning films.
Tolkien's estate, along with publisher HarperCollins and The Tolkien Trust charity, have claimed compensation and punitive damages, according to court papers.
The legal action states an original film deal signed by Tolkien in 1969 and picked up by New Line in 1997 would give the estate 7.5 per cent of all profits made by any films based on his books.
They have also asked for a court order giving them the ability to terminate any rights the studio have to make films based on other Tolkien works, such as The Hobbit.
Legal action could signal another delay to the long-awaited prequels to the fantasy epics, which already faced problems due to, now settled, legal wrangling between Jackson and New Line.
New Line have declined to comment on the allegations.
