A Middle-Earth Theme Park?

tolkienbrasil.com recently posted some interesting information that confirms the possibility of the creation of a Middle-earth theme park. You see, before he died, J.R.R. Tolkien sold the film, stage and merchandise rights for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings to United Artists. United Artists never got around to doing anything with the rights, so they eventually got sold to Tolkien Enterprises, now known as the Middle-earth Enterprises, a division of the Saul Zaents Company. Now, the aforementioned website found a document for the U.S. Patent Office (shown above), in which the Saul Zaents Company has registered several uses for Middle-earth properties that includes theme parks. It is dated January 22, 2013. If you keep up with Tolkien news, then you will remember a few rumors floating around a few months ago about a Middle-earth theme park. This at least confirms these rumors. Then again, this document may have just been created to protect the Zaents Company rights. If the theme park actually was constructed, it is unclear whether it would be in New Zealand, or in one of the popular locations in the US, such as Florida or California. However, the park would only contain content from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, since those are the only books Tolkien ever sold the rights to. A pity!