 He was not implacably opposed to the idea of a dramatic adaptation, however, and sold the film, stage and merchandise rights of "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" to United Artists in 1968.United Artists never made a film, although director John Boorman was planning a live-action film in the early 1970s.In 1976, the rights were sold to Tolkien Enterprises, a division of the Saul Zaentz Company, and the first film adaptation of "The Lord of the Rings" was released in 1978 as an animated rotoscoping film directed by Ralph Bakshi with screenplay by the fantasy writer Peter S. Beagle.