A little while back, Peter Jackson asked New Line Cinema to open their Lord of the Rings accounting books, to investigate some strange financial things. The head of the studio Bob Shaye refused, so Jackson filed a lawsuit to have the books opened to see if profits were hidden, after the studio refused to do so.
Shaye, whose New Line, by the way, is owned by Time Warner, then went on a public tirade against the man who made more money for Shaye’s company than Freddy Krueger.
When that happened, Jackson wished everyone the best on The Hobbit film and potential second Lord of the Rings prequel.
So when Jackson started shopping his The Lovely Bones project around, New Line was left out of the bidding. Bets were abound that Shaye would be fired from the company he founded.
Now, word has hit that New Line may be finally trying to make amends with Jackson as The Hobbit starts to get off the ground.
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Ain’t It Cool News has this quote from Shaye: “Notwithstanding our personal quarrels, I really respect and admire Peter and would love for him to be creatively involved in some way in The Hobbit.”
Wow, okay, so it’s a semi-apology. Also, Deadline Hollywood has been on the Shaye story for a while, and is reporting that after publicly chastising director Brett Ratner for the over-budgeted Rush Hour 3, he’s now saying he’ll make some changes to how New Line will be run.
So if Shaye, and apparently New Line even more so, are both trying to make amends with Jackson, will we at least see some involvement with the film? I don’t know; I’d be pretty upset, too, if I asked for the books to be opened on LOTR, but New Line refused, so a lawsuit was filed to audit.
Keep in mind, on the film Coming To America, an audit discovered Paramount had hidden millions in profit owed to star Eddie Murphy, so I don’t blame Jackson. For now, I’m eagerly anticipating his The Lovely Bones adaptation and his eventual Tin Tin movie!
Sources: Ain’t It Cool News and Deadline Hollywood
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2 Comments
This one won’t ever be as successful with anyone else at the helm. If New Line/Shaye want continued success in the realm of Middle Earth (and there is more after ‘The Hobbit’), they’ll come clean with Jackson, apologize and give him his due. Otherwise, this project is doomed to be less than it could have been.
Now Warner Bros have absorbed Newline Cinema will the Tolkien Foundation law suit continue against Warner?
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