Things Get Nasty Over The Hobbit

VARIETY: Shaye denies Jackson 'Hobbit' gig
New Line topper says director not welcome
By NICOLE LAPORTE, DAVE MCNARY

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.

Shaye's words are a more explicit snub to Jackson than occurred last November, when Jackson posted a letter to his fans on the "LOTR" fan site Theonering.net saying that New Line had alerted him that they were proceeding to make "The Hobbit" without him.

The severing of ties was prompted by Jackson's declared refusal to make a movie with New Line until his ongoing lawsuit is settled. (Suit was filed in August 2005 after accounting issues were raised in a partial audit of the first "LOTR" film.) New Line told Jackson that because the studio's option to the property, obtained from Saul Zaentz, was set to expire, New Line would proceed sans Jackson.

People close to the situation say the lawsuit is nowhere near being settled.

Shaye's attack was more acerbic, and definitive, than simply walking away from the table.

Jackson got "a quarter of a billion dollars paid to him so far, justifiably, according to contract, completely right, and this guy ... turns around without wanting to have a discussion with us and sues us and refused to discuss it unless we just give in to his plan," Shaye said. "I don't want to work with that guy anymore. Why would I? So the answer is, he will never make any movie with New Line Cinema again while I'm still working at the company."

Shaye also went on to say that he was "offended" that Jackson, as well as several "LOTR" thesps ("because, I'm guessing, of Peter's complaint") would not participate in a video celebrating New Line's 40th anniversary.

On Wednesday, Jackson issued a statement in response to Shaye's outburst, saying, "It is regrettable that Bob has chosen to make (the argument) personal. I have always had the highest respect and affection for Bob and other senior management at New Line and continue to do so."

Jackson addressed the suit by saying: "Contrary to recent comments made by Bob Shaye, we attempted to discuss the issues raised by the 'Fellowship' audit with New Line for over a year, but the studio was and continues to be completely uncooperative. This has compelled us to file a lawsuit to pursue our contractual rights under the law. Nobody likes legal action, but the studio left us with no alternative."

As for the anniversary video, Jackson said, "In light of these circumstances, I didn't think it was appropriate for me to be involved in (the video). I have never discussed this video with any of the cast of the 'LOTR.' The issues that Bob Shaye has with the cast pre-date this lawsuit by many years."

A source close to Jackson called Shaye's remarks "a strategy to try and create favor (for New Line) by saying how much money Peter made. The issue isn't what Peter made, it's why Bob and Mike (Lynne, co-chairman of New Line) don't want to talk about what they made. What is it that they don't want us to see?"

Shaye and Lynne were exec producers on the "LOTR" films.

As with earlier exchanges in this feud, Shaye's remarks were vented via the Internet, where Jackson fans avidly lurk. (Jackson's statement was released to Daily Variety.) Indeed, all parties seem intent on generating buzz, and perhaps action, by addressing the issue publicly.

Last October, Rick Sands, chief operating officer of MGM, which owns the distribution rights to the "Hobbit," posted a letter on Theonering.net in response to a petition signed by 50,000 fans demanding that Jackson be allowed to direct "Hobbit."

Sands wrote: "MGM would be thrilled to collaborate with the Academy-Award winning director on this MGM/New Line Cinema production."

New Line would not comment Wednesday about Jackson's latest statement.

Eyes Watering, Nerds Look Heavenward In Hope

ROTTEN TOMATOES: MGM Says "Not So Fast" to the End of Jackson's "Hobbit"
Posted on Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2006, 03:06 AM

Scott Weinberg writes: "And the "Hobbit" arguments continue! Last we heard, Peter Jackson was divorcing himself from the project because of a legal battle with New Line. So the studio said fine, we'll get someone else to direct it. And the fans were angry. But now comes MGM to the rescue?

From Moviehole: "Yesterday, the "Lord of the Rings" director told TheOneRing.net that New Line have removed him from the project. The filmmaker’s statement also reiterated in detail his stance on "The Hobbit" -- that he is not willing to have a serious conversation about directing the film until his ongoing lawsuit with New Line over what he considers improper accounting practices over "LOTR" profits is settled.

New Line's given reason for proceeding sans Jackson is that the studio's rights to the pic are about to expire, and seeing as the lawsuit with Jackson isn't moving ahead, well, the message was that New Line is.

An MGM spokesperson tells Variety today that they're going to fight for Jackson. The spokesperson states, "The matter of Peter Jackson directing 'The Hobbit' films is far from closed."

Woohoo! Flex that copyright muscle, MGM! (For the record, New Line has the production rights for "The Hobbit" and a second LOTR prequel, yet for some convoluted reason from years back, MGM owns the distribution rights for a Hobbit flick. Fingers crossed!)"

Jackson Not To Direct Hobbit; Nerds Weep

HOLLYWOOD ELSEWHERE (Jeffrey Wells) - According to a letter from Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh posted late last night on theonering.net, New Line Cinema has parted ways with Jackson/Walsh over a lawsuit that they had brought aainst the distributor tied to Fellowship of the Ring revenues (i.e., product licensing, "differences of opinion", etc.).

The positive-minded Jackson/Walsh had been expecting settlement on the lawsuit, which would then be followed by a deal to start work on The Hobbit plus a Lord of the Rings prequel. However, according to the letter, "last week [New Line bigwig] Mark Ordesky called Ken Kamins" -- Jackson/Walsh's manager -- "and told him that New Line would no longer be requiring our services on The Hobbit and the LOTR 'prequel'...this was a courtesy call to let us know that the studio was now actively looking to hire another filmmaker for both projects.

"Ordesky said that New Line has a limited time option on the [Hobbit] film rights they have obtained from Saul Zaentz (this has never been conveyed to us before), and because we won't discuss making the movies until the lawsuit is resolved, the studio is going to have to hire another director. Given that New Line [is] committed to this course of action, we felt at the very least, we owed you, the fans, a straightforward account of events as they have unfolded for us."

What's really going on here, I believe, is a reflection of the this year's sea-change attitude among distributors and producers towards coddled, overpaid wunderkind types like Jackson -- big-name talents who get rich deals for themselves and their production companies, after which they go off and strain or exceed the budget, and then their sometimes indulgent, overlong film (i.e., King Kong) comes out and does moderately well but not well enough. Result: the wunderkind makes out like a bandit and the studio is left holding the bag.

Image-wise, Universal's King Kong experience with Jackson made him into the ultimate enfant terrible poster boy for indulgent, genius-boy tendencies. Jackson's middle name is "wheeee!" -- it's what makes him what he is. If you make a movie with Jackson, provision #1 in his contract is that he gets to go "wheeee!" all through the making of it. At the end of the day the film will be in some ways awesome/brilliant/ eye-popping and what the fans want, and in other ways indulgent, show-offy, overlong and flooded with fake-looking bullshit CG shots that "wheeee!" types love to create because fake CG shots are so deliriously comic-book "imaginative."

You may make a huge profit with a Jackson film and you may not, but one thing for sure is that he and his New Zealand pallies will make out like kings plus they'll all get to go "wheeee!" for 18 months or two years, on your dime.

I'm basically saying that New Line did a good thing here. The more Peter Jackson gets cut down and has to trim his sails and stop "wheee"-ing his way through movie-making, the better. I say this because I have never suffered so acutely in my moviegoing years...I've never felt so awful, so trapped, so stuck on Devil's Island- with-dysentery as I did while watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy and also the first 70 minutes of King Kong. I just know that the fewer "paints" Jackson has to work with, the better his films will turn out to be.

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I don't really this has as much to do with Jackson's excesses as it does with his unwillingness to play ball and agree to make two more films before the legal dust settled. The "below-enormous-expectations" box office of 'Kong' probably didn't help, either.