New Line fined in 'Lord of the Rings' court battle

[WriteSimply]

From L.A. Times:

Originally Posted by John Horn, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

September 22, 2007
Peter Jackson has scored a legal victory in his battle with New Line Cinema over the accounting of "The Lord of the Rings," with a federal magistrate hitting the studio with $125,000 in sanctions for failing to produce potential evidence.

Jackson is suing New Line, contending that he had not received a fair and proper accounting of the first "Lord of the Rings" film's income, including DVD sales and foreign receipts. All told, the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy sold about $3 billion of movie tickets worldwide.

The lawsuit does not specify monetary damages but is believed potentially to include tens of millions of dollars for Jackson. The lawsuit has driven a wedge between Jackson and New Line and delayed development of a contemplated New Line-MGM movie based on "The Hobbit," a related novel written by "Lord of the Rings" author J.R.R. Tolkien.

Lawyers for Jackson and New Line did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

I hope the outcome hasn't soured their relationships to make The Hobbit.


fuad

[w_tanoto]

Originally Posted by WriteSimply

From L.A. Times:

I hope the outcome hasn't soured their relationships to make The Hobbit.


fuad

I hope it won't block the road to BD

[crey014]

maybe they should release it sooner to get back the money from that fine.

[gandley]

there was an articule back along that claimed PeterJ would not be directing the Hobbit after this fall out. New line seem to think that PeterJ is being a greedy bastard for wanting what he is entitled to due to them not realising how sucessfull LOTR would be.

I think the hobbit is up in the air now.

[frank_t]

Originally Posted by gandley

there was an articule back along that claimed PeterJ would not be directing the Hobbit after this fall out. New line seem to think that PeterJ is being a greedy bastard for wanting what he is entitled to due to them not realising how sucessfull LOTR would be.

I think the hobbit is up in the air now.

true enough, but i also read a couple months back that newline and pj were quietly trying to patch things up.

who knows -- perhaps that was just wishful thinking on the part of the author.

i would be highly skeptical of anyone other than pj doing the hobbit. on the other hand, LotR gave him a bit of an ego i think which resulted in the awful king kong.

all i really ask is that they keep as true as they can to the book and not make any attempt to write their own connection between the hobbit and LotR, as has been speculated. let the hobbit stand (or fall apart) on its own.

[aygie]

Rami's been linked with the Hobbit. Jackson won't do it. New Line really ripped him off with this.

[radagast]

Originally Posted by frank_t

i would be highly skeptical of anyone other than pj doing the hobbit. on the other hand, LotR gave him a bit of an ego i think which resulted in the awful king kong.

all i really ask is that they keep as true as they can to the book and not make any attempt to write their own connection between the hobbit and LotR, as has been speculated. let the hobbit stand (or fall apart) on its own.

Which do you want: PJ doing the Hobbit or staying true to the book? Obviously you can't have both. I think the Hobbit could be better with someone else at the helm.

[Irrob]

Originally Posted by radagast

. I think the Hobbit could be better with someone else at the helm.

Oh, ok, you're kidding.

[reiella]

Originally Posted by radagast

Which do you want: PJ doing the Hobbit or staying true to the book? Obviously you can't have both. I think the Hobbit could be better with someone else at the helm.

Film and book are different mediums. What works in one, does not necessarily work in the other.

[atomik kinder]

I can't exactly recall, but if The Hobbit doesn't get made by a certain year, the rights revert back to MGM and I think New Line's time is running out. I think they will rush it and do a crappy job.

[aygie]

Originally Posted by atomik kinder

I can't exactly recall, but if The Hobbit doesn't get made by a certain year, the rights revert back to MGM and I think New Line's time is running out. I think they will rush it and do a crappy job.

I think its the end of next year

[WickyWoo]

Which do you want: PJ doing the Hobbit or staying true to the book? Obviously you can't have both. I think the Hobbit could be better with someone else at the helm.

I am the most anal person in the world when it comes to this. I expect verbatim dialog, nothing changed and nothing invented. Aside from the blasphemy with Faramir and Osgiliath, which should not have been done, LOTR is remarkably close. WHile some of the compression bothered me (like the removal of Buckland and TOM BOMBADIL. #@$#@$ They should have shot it and put it on the DVD damnit!), there wasn't much in there to piss me off. PJ knows the material, respects the material, and both the holding company for the property, MGM and everyone else but Bob Shaye know it.

New Line's right to make the movie expires at the end of the year, at which point MGM will hire PJ. The more likely scenario is a last minute "let's be friends" or Bob Shaye being fired, and THEN PJ being hired. There's half a billion dollars at stake here for the Time-Warner coffers

[Krazy]

Question: if the rights do go back to MGM, does this mean that Sony would be releasing The Hobbit now that MGM is effectively under Sony Pictures Entertainment?

[WickyWoo]

They merely use Sony's distribution system.

MGM has US theatrical/video rights no matter what.

[Krazy]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

They merely use Sony's distribution system.

MGM has US theatrical/video rights no matter what.

Thanks for the info, I guess either way TH would be a Blu-exclusive if New Line does slip up on it and the rights go back to MGM

[Mericalis]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

I am the most anal person in the world when it comes to this. I expect verbatim dialog, nothing changed and nothing invented. Aside from the blasphemy with Faramir and Osgiliath, which should not have been done, LOTR is remarkably close. WHile some of the compression bothered me (like the removal of Buckland and TOM BOMBADIL. #@$#@$ They should have shot it and put it on the DVD damnit!), there wasn't much in there to piss me off. PJ knows the material, respects the material, and both the holding company for the property, MGM and everyone else but Bob Shaye know it.

New Line's right to make the movie expires at the end of the year, at which point MGM will hire PJ. The more likely scenario is a last minute "let's be friends" or Bob Shaye being fired, and THEN PJ being hired. There's half a billion dollars at stake here for the Time-Warner coffers

I too am pretty anal--to use your words--about the situation. I read LOTR through at least once a year and have done so since I picked it up in middle school. It is true, I thought that it was a cheap move leaving out all those things. But the more I thought about the Tom Bombadil part, the more I realized that the layperson might not understand that part without some recognition of the book.

I also didn't like the way they took out the final conflict scene back in Hobbiton; however, it was a very minor battle after the orcs poured out of Mordor. Also I always wondered how he could tie everything in without it playing out and the audience going to sleep on the film.


And I had heard somewhere down the pipeline that New Line's rights were up this year. Glad to know that my source was correct.

[The Guardian]

Originally Posted by Krazy

Thanks for the info, I guess either way TH would be a Blu-exclusive if New Line does slip up on it and the rights go back to MGM

Hopefully the war is LONG over by then.. if they haven't even started making it yet it's at least 2 years from being in theaters, right? So probably 3 years away from a home video release...

[darinp2]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

New Line's right to make the movie expires at the end of the year, at which point MGM will hire PJ.

Is that the end of this year, or next year? And what does New Line have to have done by then? Do they have to have finished it and released it, or something else? Seems like the potential/likely strike could get in their way.

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

They merely use Sony's distribution system.

MGM now uses Fox for that.

--Darin

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by atomik kinder

I can't exactly recall, but if The Hobbit doesn't get made by a certain year, the rights revert back to MGM and I think New Line's time is running out. I think they will rush it and do a crappy job.

I believe you're thinking of the rights reverting back to Saul Zaentz (producer of the '78 animated LOTR, who still owns a piece of PJ's films), who is also no friend of New Line...

[blu-rayfan101]

well we won't die with out it.