: JRRT hated how Disney handled fairytales like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Many people find the Disney animated features overly sweet and syrupy. And I suppose Tolkien was afraid that the LOTR would become jusy another animated musical in the Disney archives. And Disney was a control freak and I doubt he would have allowed the Tolkien estate to retain creative control on any film version. And yet, I think Disney COULD have made a very passable version if he wanted to. He wasn't one to shy away from battle scenes or or death scenes (though never overly graphic). His writers wanted to leave out the death of Ol' Yeller, but Disney felt it was a good lesson for youngsters. The biggest problem for Disney (while he was alive), was that they were very careful about how much money they spent on any project. They spent enough to get the job done, but nothing lavish. And even today the company has a reputation of being tight with a dollar. So while Disney might have been interested in the LOTR for a while, they couldn't or wouldn't get it, until just recently under their Miramax Film subsidiary. But Miramax, for various reasons, let the film go to New Line. I would have liked Miramax to keep the project, but they only wanted to make two films, and New Line is doing three. But Miramax has a much better reputation than New Line for making "quality" films of substance, with little interference from Disney.

Actually I had heard that Miramax was was precluded legally from going forward with the project because they were a Disney subsidiary. I do think they retain the marketing/merchandising rights associated with the film however.