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Peter Jackson and the Lord of the Rings franchise — the two go together like Frodo and Sam. At least they used to. Last week, Jackson and partner Fran Walsh announced on TheOneRing.net that New Line had informed them that they ''would no longer be requiring our services'' for two upcoming Tolkien-based films, The Hobbit and a LOTR prequel. Moreover, the duo said the studio is ''actively looking to hire another filmmaker.''
WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?
Money. Jackson's Wingnut Films filed a lawsuit against New Line in 2005, asking the studio to fully disclose all revenue from The Fellowship of the Ring, including international box office, DVD and TV sales, and merchandise like videogames and action figures.
The feud over "The Hobbit" is getting hotter and meaner.
In the most recent sturm und drang over J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy novel, long-discussed as a project for "Lord of the Rings" helmer Peter Jackson, New Line co-chairman Bob Shaye told Sci Fi Wire that Jackson would never direct "The Hobbit" as long as Shaye is running New Line.
New Line, which released the "LOTR" trilogy, is in a public feud and lawsuit with Jackson over money the helmer says is owed him from the "Rings" pics. Trilogy grossed more than $3 billion worldwide in ticket sales alone.
"It will never happen during my watch," Shaye said of Jackson directing "The Hobbit" along with an "LOTR" prequel. New Line and MGM own the rights to both films.
Reading the article confirmed my suspicions that Shaye is trying to deflect attention from New Line's lack of transparency about the monies. It's hard to imagine anyone other than Jackson directing The Hobbit or the prequel. The phrase "Good luck with that" comes to mind if New Line thinks they can find someone who could do half the job of Jackson.
I worked on the bonus edition DVD's for LOTR and The Two Towers as an assistant editor, and after seeing how Jackson did those movies, the Hobbit will most definitely not be as good as the LOTR trilogy. New Line are complete morons for not using Jackson. The passion and attention to detail he and the WETA workshop put into those movies was unthinkable.
The people who were in charge of LOTR at New Line are probably not the ones working on this new Hobbit project, cos' they fully supported Jackson during the making of LOTR.
Amazing what greed can do to art.
That being said, I thought King Kong was pile of crap. Being that it was one of Jackson's favorite movies, I guess his love for the movie clouded his judgement in what makes a good movie. The King Kong story was just not that interesting, and Jack Black was the wrong guy for that movie.
That being said, I thought King Kong was pile of crap. Being that it was one of Jackson's favorite movies, I guess his love for the movie clouded his judgement in what makes a good movie. The King Kong story was just not that interesting, and Jack Black was the wrong guy for that movie.
That is an interesting insight. I wondered how he could do LOTR so perfectly and then KK was horrible. Lack of perspective caused by love for the story.
Have you seen The Star Wars Holiday Special? From what I heard the studio wanted to milk the cash cow and didnt use Lucas and this is what they came up.
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