11 Incredibly Successful Movies (That Shockingly Made No Profit)

The Lord of the Rings was one of the riskiest projects ever. It was an ambitious production, with each film in the trilogy being filmed back to back, with a combined budget of $281 million. Box office success wasn't guaranteed, but in the end it paid off in spades...or so we thought.

The trilogy made nearly $3 billion combined, so you'd think it was extremely profitable, but it turns out that wasn't the case.

According to New Line's accounts, the movies all suffered "horrendous losses", and earned no profit. And that's mainly because the director, actors, and Tolkien's estate all demanded a percentage of the film's profits. Between those insane demands and the other expenses for the films, the studio had nothing.

In 2005, director Peter Jackson and his studio, Wingnut Films, brought a suit against New Line Cinema after an audit on Fellowship of the Ring's income. Jackson said that the lawsuit was based "on differences of opinion about certain accounting practices." This lawsuit prevented him from being able to work on The Hobbit, until it was finally settled in 2007.

In addition to Jackson, many of the stars of Lord of the Rings also sued the studio for their share of the profits, as did J.R.R. Tolkien's estate.

Even the one ring to rule them all is no match for that sweet Hollywood money.