The Hobbit

Oh, for God's sake.

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Tolkien Trust Suing New Line Over LOTR Films Royalties
Posted by Patrick on 02/12 at 05:21 AM

The estate of J.R.R. Tolkien and HarperCollins Publishers have filed a lawsuit against New Line Cinema, the studio that bankrolled Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy of films. They claim that the studio has failed to pay them gross profit point royalties earned from the three movies as specified in their contracts with New Line Cinema. The duo are seeking recompensation of at least $150 million dollars, additional monies to be derived from punitive damages and “a declaration from the Court that the plaintiffs have a right to terminate any further rights New Line may have to the Tolkien works under the agreements, including The Hobbit, due to the serious and material nature of the breach of the agreements.”

Yeah, you read that right. The Hobbit movies are now in danger of not happening. So how did this all happen?

According to Steven Maier, the lawyer representing The Tolkien Trust, “The Tolkien trustees do not file lawsuits lightly, and have tried unsuccessfully to resolve their claims out of court. But in this case, New Line has left them no option at all. New Line has not paid the plaintiffs even one penny of its contractual share of gross receipts despite the billions of dollars of gross revenue generated by these wildly successful motion pictures. To make matters worse, to date New Line has even prevented the plaintiffs from auditing the last two films of the series. The trustees are very aggrieved by New Line’s arrogance.”

Does this claim strike anyone else as being familiar? Yeeeah...I wonder what Peter Jackson thinks of this. Maybe “Been there, done that?”

And these guys are really mad; listen to what this other lawyer has to say. “New Line has brought new meaning to the phrase ‘creative accounting,’” said Bonnie Eskenazi, one of the American legal councils representing the Tolkien Trust. I cannot imagine how on earth New Line will argue to a jury that these films could gross literally billions of dollars, and yet the creator’s heirs, who are entitled to a share of gross receipts, don’t get a penny.”

With the Writers Guild strike nearly over and it being all-but-official that Guillermo del Toro would direct the two Hobbit movies that New Line and MGM have planned, this could really, really derail all of that.

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A room full of execs should get fired over that.

More like pistol whipped and shot after a few hours of beating.

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Originally Posted by MarsKitten

More like pistol whipped and shot after a few hours of beating.

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You would like that wouldn't you. Probably want them to tape it or something so you could watch later.

Those poor executives all they want to do is rip some one off for a few hundred mil is that soo bad.

Guillermo officially on board. Does this mean New Line (or rather WB, now that they've lost their independent status) took care of the Tolkien estate matter behind the scenes?

Probably, I would imagine the Tolkein estate wouldn't be allowing it to happen otherwise. I still question if Del Toro's style is right for the world that Tolkein created, and the one that Jackson has put forth already.

If it isn't Jackson behind the camera, Del Toro is the next best guy I think. His movies are gorgeous and he sure as shit knows his way around fantasy elements.

Awesome news.

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The Hobbit: Animatronics, Serkis & McKellen!
Posted by Cybergosh on 04/28 at 02:00 PM

The Hobbit - First Edition

TheOneRing.net has a fantastic interview with Guillermo del Toro which is loaded with answers to the questions on all of our minds. First and foremost, del Toro confirms that both Ian McKellen (Gandalf) and Andy Serkis (Smeagol / Gollum) will be back on board for the upcoming pair of prequels.

Del Toro is also recruiting many other crucial ingredients which made the Lord of the Rings trilogy as special as it was.

“I’ve been chatting with a ton of people via email, phone, and in person from the previous films,” says del Toro. “People like Andy Serkis, Sir Ian McKellen, Howard Shore, John Howe, Gino Acevedo, Richard Taylor next week I’m meeting Alan Lee. I’m doing this to ensure that whatever we do we keep continuity with the other films, yes it’s a world that is slightly more golden at the beginning, a very innocent environment. “

Also awesome is the fact that del Toro is planning to keep the story rooted in the Middle Earth we all have come to know and love. Says the director, “There will be certain things that we will see from the first movie but from a different point of view, but it will feel like a volume, in the 5 volumes of the entire story. It will not feel like a bridge, I’ve been hearing it called ‘a bridge film’, it’s not, it’s an integral chapter of the story, and I think we’re all on the same page.”

On whether or not his vision will stray from Peter Jackson’s, del Toro says, “The only thing I will be pushing for more in these films are full animatronics and animatronic creatures enhanced with CGI, as opposed to CGI creatures themselves.”

Very cool stuff. It sounds like del Toro and Middle Earth will go great together. For the entire interview, head over to TheOneRing.net!

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McKellen IS BACK For The Hobbit

Date: April 30, 2008

By: Ryan 'The Rican with the Irish name' McLelland
Source: Comcast

I'll finally consider this issue DONE. No more guessing and, ifs, or buts. Surely an official notice will be coming down the pipe but Ian McKellen sat down with Empire Magazine and said the following:

"Yes, it's true," McKellen said - that he is returning to the role.

"I spoke to (director) Guillermo (Del Toro) in the very room that Peter Jackson offered me the part and he confirmed that I would be reprising the role. Obviously, it's not a part that you turn down, I loved playing Gandalf."

So there we have it. No more wondering if Del Toro is directing. No more wondering if McKellen is starring. And soup-to-nuts we can believe that Andy Serkis will be back as well.

We can finally put this baby to bed and focus on casting Bilbo Baggins!!!

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On whether or not his vision will stray from Peter Jackson’s, del Toro says, “The only thing I will be pushing for more in these films are full animatronics and animatronic creatures enhanced with CGI, as opposed to CGI creatures themselves.”

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Fuck yes. This always comes out better than pure CGI.

See: your avatar.