PJ is Back On for the Hobbit!

[Welshwoman]

Mercy, why can't New Line do what it's supposed to do and pay these folks. Thanks for updating us, HS. How sad that the Tolkien estate and other plaintiffs still have not received their contractual share. Please resolve this speedily, gentlemen, so that proper payment can be made, and the proposed films will not be in jeopardy.

Barbara

[HeySailor]

What kills me about yet another lawsuit is that not one cent has been paid to the estate and publisher. It's not about parsing over their 'fair share' - they've gotten nada, goose eggs, zip, zero, zilch, zed so far. A lawsuit keeps the lawyers employed but you'd think this could have been settled out of court before it got to this point. I'm kind of curious to know how NL can explain away not paying anything towards that 7.5% of 6 billion. That's a lotta million.

Now that the estate has got their attention, I hope cool heads prevail, a settlement is reached, and THE HOBBIT moves forward. Filming was to have started in 2009 so there is some wiggle room. Now that the WGA strike is winding down, the writing of a script can commence.

ETA: The Tolkien Trust is run by Tolkien's (elderly) children in the UK and supports many charitable organizations such as Save The Children Fund, the Darfur Appeal, Asia Earthquale Apeal and World Cancer Research Foundation.

[Adrianne]

Good grief! What is NewLine's problem? If anyone deserves a piece of the pie (a BIG piece) it's the Tolkien Estate.

Come on! Get with it already, NewLine.

[aliza]

As uncharacteristic as it is for me to be one with the universe, I believe a Hobbit movie is meant to happen and if so, it will happen in its own way and its own time. We the fans just have to be patient.

Aliza

[Adrianne]

As uncharacteristic as it is for me to be one with the universe, I believe a Hobbit movie is meant to happen and if so, it will happen in its own way and its own time. We the fans just have to be patient.

I like your thinking, my friend, very Elvish, you know. But I'm not getting any younger.

[aliza]

As uncharacteristic as it is for me to be one with the universe, I believe a Hobbit movie is meant to happen and if so, it will happen in its own way and its own time. We the fans just have to be patient.

I like your thinking, my friend, very Elvish, you know. But I'm not getting any younger.

But wiser, methinks.

Aliza

[Adrianne]

But wiser, methinks.

One would hope.

[Kim]

Why is New Line is being so selfish, why is it so hard for them to give the Tolkien Estate what they so rightly deserve! If it weren't for Tolkien there would be no Middle Earth, no Mirkwood Elves and no Hobbits period! I sure hope this is resolved very soon and that they can start on the Hobbit.

Kim

[Patty]

No surprise here, but I wonder if the Tolkien estate will ever get ANY money from the LotR movies?

Please, Warner Brothers, just make this movie.

From today's Hollywood Reporter...

Shaye, Lynne out at New Line

By Georg Szalai

Feb 29, 2008

NEW YORK -- New Line Cinema co-chairmen and co-CEOs Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne will leave the studio as part of a consolidation of Time Warner's film operations unveiled Thursday afternoon.

They are, however, "in discussions about possible future business relationships with the company," TW said.

As expected, the conglomerate announced the consolidation of its filmed entertainment businesses, Warner Bros. Entertainment and New Line, with the latter being operated as a unit of Warner Bros.

New Line will maintain separate development, production, marketing, distribution and business affairs operations. However, it will "closely integrate and coordinate those functions with Warner Bros. to maximize film performance and operating efficiencies, achieve significant cost savings, and improve margins," TW said.

"We are moving quickly to improve our business performance and financial returns," TW CEO Jeff Bewkes said. "Given the trend toward fewer movie releases, New Line and Warner Bros. will now have more complementary release slates, with New Line focusing on genres that have been its strength.

"New Line has been our respective life's work as well as our second family," Shaye and Lynne said. "While we're sad to be leaving, we're enormously proud to have overseen its extraordinary growth." They added that they "will now focus our efforts on exploring new entrepreneurial opportunities."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/conten.052bd5546c6bdb2

[HeySailor]

Holy Moly. I was away from by computer today and just saw the breaking news. I hope this bodes well for the various lawsuits reaching out-of-court settlements. I feel for those employees who may be losing their jobs as the New Line infrastructure is absorbed into Warner. Consolidation, while it makes good business sense, is also a way to lose the brass at the top of New Line and allow them to save face. Their contracts were up at the end of this year anyway.

[AllisoneyBaloney]

Please, Warner Brothers, just make this movie.

I completely agree. There are so many more obstacles to overcome. They haven't even started the process of filming and things are already going down the tubes.

Ladies, we may have to step in and take part in this movie

Thanks for bringing this over Patty!!!!

-Allison

[HeySailor]

Variety beat THR to the breaking news this afternoon by a mere 5 minutes but here is their take on the story tomorrow today.

<snip>The curtain fell just four years after "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" vaulted New Line to the pinnacle of the film biz. The third installment of the ultra-risky $270 million trilogy won the best picture Oscar and grossed $1.1 billion worldwide.

The three films together were a cultural event and the stuff of movie lore, bringing in billions in B.O. and merchandise. Rejected by other studios, Peter Jackson found a home for his JRR Tolkien obsession at New Line, which rolled the dice on an 18-month shoot in New Zealand by a helmer with no prior studio hits.

Since then, however, New Line had fallen on harder times. Its lone breakout post-"Rings" pic was "Wedding Crashers," which tallied $209 million in summer 2005. Its only solid performers since were "Rush Hour 3" and "Hairspray."

With the absence of hits came grim headlines. Shaye waged an expensive -- and ultimately unsuccessful -- legal fight against Jackson over gross receipts from the "Rings" pics. He also quarreled with favorite son Brett Ratner over back-end deals for "Rush Hour 3," an on-and-off project that finally came out last summer. And Shaye opted to take time out from running the company to direct "The Last Mimzy," a bland kidpic that grossed just $21.5 million last year.

<snip>

A key New Line property, "The Hobbit," was stalled for years due to the court battle between Shaye and Jackson -- even though it represented a logical franchise extension of "The Lord of the Rings." Partly at the behest of MGM topper Harry Sloan (who owned half of "The Hobbit" rights and would not go forward unless Jackson was involved creatively), Shaye and Lynne buried the hatched with Jackson by settling the lawsuit a few months ago.

"The Hobbit" has Guillermo Del Toro in talks to direct, and the picture will be unaffected by the ouster of Shaye and Lynne. Though the films won't be scripted until a director is hired, and Jackson wraps "The Lovely Bones," the expectation is that the films will be ready for release for Christmas 2011 and 2012. Harry Potter will have wound down at WB by then, and the corporation will surely welcome another fantasy franchise that has an eager global audience waiting. New Line will distribute domestically, while MGM has international rights.<snip>

It looks like business as usual (and we're left to wait and see as usual).

[Serenity]

Thanks, HS and Patty for the updates. I hate the waiting and the seeing part. But, I'm glad to see the rearrangement of things and absorption and all that jazz. Hopefully New Line will be conducted with a bit more class in the coming years as a result.

[Welshwoman]

Gents, just get it all sorted out, play nice and fair with each other and all parties involved, and let's get on to the movie making.

Thanks, HS and Patty, for the updates.

Barbara

[Debbi84]

Thanks HS and Patty for the updates. This story has had more twists and turns. Hopefully it's full speed ahead now.

Debbi

[SeventhGate]

I hate the waiting and the seeing part.

Me too. But I'm awfully excited. YAY! Thanks for the update.

[McJules]

Gents, just get it all sorted out, play nice and fair with each other and all parties involved, and let's get on to the movie making.

What she said!

HS and Patty, thank you for keeping us informed.

[Jan]

Just to let y'all know that I've moved The Hobbit into the Movies Forum, as it will be easier to find as a sub-forum in here - rather than a sub-sub-sub forum of Orlando's 'old' projects.

Carry on!

[robinsmum]

2011? That´s an awful long time to wait!

Thanks for the news, girls.

~ Inga ~

[HeySailor]

From this morning's The Hollywood Reporter comes an update on THE HOBBIT and the New Line reorganization:

Toby Emmerich has been named president and COO of New Line and will lead its reorganization as a stand-alone production entity under the Warner Bros. umbrella. The move had been expected.

<snip>

With Emmerich's appointment, New Line will continue to maintain its own development, creative and production teams, though in a much pared-down incarnation. It will release about six films a year and have a discretionary fund to buy script and books, though it will be cut back considerably from the $40 million-$50 million it had under former company heads Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne.

Emmerich, who will report to Warner Bros. president and COO Alan Horn, is expected to oversee a slate that will focus more on horror movies and low-budget comedies than the moderate-budgeted fare New Line had been producing in recent years. However, it won't be limited to those genres and might, on certain occasions, be allowed to move beyond its budgetary restrictions if A-listers are interested in a project that requires a commitment beyond its new budgetary caps.

The company will continue working with MGM on its two-film adaptation of "The Hobbit."

When it comes to defining a New Line movie going forward, it's "about the movie, not the budget," Emmerich said, quoting Warners' top brass.<snip>

[Serenity]

HS, thanks for the update! Anytime I see you post in here, I know to check right away because 9 times out of 10, you're bringing us news.

Well, Come on then, New Line - Get moving already!

[Welshwoman]

Thanks, HS, for the update. Glad to hear that New Line will continue working with MGM on "The Hobbit." I can well imagine that one will exceed its new budget restrictions.

Barbara

[Patty]

Ian McKellen has a whole new page of Q&A on the LotR and The Hobbit at his site. The following two responses concern The Hobbit, but the entire page is wonderful reading.

THE HOBBIT

Q: So has it come to pass, good Sir McKellen? Shall the dreaming masses with their musty books and their blackened pipes at long last hear those immortal words issue from under that famous nose? "Yes, yes, my dear sir-and I know your name, Mr. Bilbo Baggins. And you do know my name, though you don't remember that I belong to it. I am Gandalf, and Gandalf means me! To think I should have lived to be good-morninged by Belladonna Took's son, as if I was selling buttons at the door!" Looking about, I find I share the same hopes as millions of others, so I ask, a single query in a chorus. Will you again be our Gandalf in "The Hobbit" now that the deal is settled?

A: Yes I will, if Peter Jackson and I have anything to do with it, he being the producer and me being, on the whole, a very lucky actor. I've just read your quote out loud - fabulous speech.

-------------------------------------------------------------

THE HOBBIT

Q: Have you been approached yet by Peter Jackson or anyone else about reprising your wonderful role as Gandalf for the two upcoming "Hobbit" movies. I read that principal photography begins in 2009, and I can't imagine those movies without you!

A: Encouragingly, Peter and Fran Walsh have told me they couldn't imagine The Hobbit without their original Gandalf. Their confidence hasn't yet been confirmed by the director Guillermo del Toro but I am keeping my diary free for 2009!

http://www.mckellen.com/epost/lotr/080326.htm

I must admit, I am all teary eyed after reading Sir Ian's response about reading the Gandalf speech out loud. I want this to happen so much.

[Serenity]

I want this to happen so much.

Ditto!

I didn't read any of these books until after watching FotR for the first time. Because of that, in my mind, Gandalf was, is, and always will be Ian McKellan. I wait with baited breath to hear the confirmation that he will in fact be our Gandalf once more.

You think they'll put all the singing from the book into the movies?

Thanks a bunch for this Patty. I have long been a fan of Ian's Website and need to make a point to get back there a bit more often for exploration.

[aliza]

Thank you so much for sharing this Patty. I feel the way you do, it is thrilling to think that this might actually be on the screen the right way in a few short years.

I went over to Sir Ian's page, it really is a great read. What a wonderful person he seems to be.

Aliza