“The Hobbit”

[muthagoose]

Peter Jackson dropped from ‘The Hobbit’
'Lord of the Rings' director says studio moving ahead with film without him

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - Peter Jackson says he will not be directing a movie based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel “The Hobbit” or a planned prequel to “The Lord of the Rings.”

In a letter posted on Theonering.com., Jackson and partner Fran Walsh said an executive from New Line Cinema had called to tell them the studio was moving ahead with “The Hobbit” without him.

“Last week, Mark Ordesky called Ken (Kamins, Jackson’s manager) and told him that New Line would no longer be requiring our services on ‘The Hobbit’ and the LOTR ‘prequel,”’ the 45-year-old New Zealand director wrote.

“This was a courtesy call to let us know that the studio was now actively looking to hire another filmmaker for both projects,” he said.

Robert Pini, a New York-based representative for New Line Cinema, said Tuesday the studio had no comment.

New Line Cinema holds the rights to produce “The Hobbit” and Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer has the rights to distribute it.

Jackson, who shepherded Tolkien’s Middle-earth saga to the screen in a series of three films, won a best-director Oscar for 2003’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.” The trilogy also includes 2002’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” and 2001’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.”

A spokesman for Wingnut Films, Jackson’s production company in Wellington, who spoke on his standard condition that he not be named, confirmed Tuesday the letter was genuine.

The announcement came amid an ongoing dispute between Wingnut Films and New Line Cinema over the amount Jackson was paid for “The Fellowship of the Ring,” including DVD payments.

While Jackson hasn’t said how much he believes he was underpaid, The New York Times last year quoted his lawyers as saying it was as much as $100 million. He is suing New Line Cinema over the shortfall.

The Dominion Post newspaper quoted Jackson as saying that because he and Walsh didn’t want to discuss upcoming movies “until the lawsuit is resolved, the studio is going to have to hire another director.”

“We are very sorry our involvement with ‘The Hobbit’ has ended this way,” the pair added.

Plans for Jackson to make a $128 million movie version of the sci-fi video game “Halo” were also scrapped this month after backers 20th Century Fox and Universal Pictures pulled out.

Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy grossed nearly $3 billion at box offices worldwide.

[Chick-O-Stick]

Has there been any word on who might be directing then? I don't know how they are going to find someone to fill Jackson's shoes, and I wonder if they will still be using the same cimematographer and crew?

[Stomper]

I have heard some rumors that Sam Raimi may be offered the director's chair.

[muthagoose]

Tolkien fans take `Hobbit' war online
`Lord of the Rings' sites align behind director Peter Jackson after the studio dumps him

When it comes to power games, some in Hollywood are beginning to learn a basic lesson of digital politics: The Internet plays rough.

Such is the case with a growing spat between New Line Cinema and Peter Jackson, the A-list director of the Lord of the Rings movies and a savvy player when it comes to the power of the Web. Jackson recently posted a letter on a fan Web site, theonering.net, explaining that he had been dumped by New Line from The Hobbit, a movie based on the book by J.R.R. Tolkien, and still in the planning stages.

``This outcome is not what we anticipated or wanted, but neither do we see any positive value in bitterness and rancor,'' Jackson wrote with his producing partner and wife, Fran Walsh. ``We now have no choice but to let the idea of a film of The Hobbit go and move forward with other projects.''

But to legions of avid Jackson and Tolkien fans, the news was a bombshell that went whizzing through cyberspace.

``This is a big blow to the LOTR community, I feel like there has been a death in the family,'' wrote a Web master called Xoanon, referring to the Lord of the Rings trilogy by its initials. ``Why couldn't New Line come to an agreement with PJ? Is there really a time option on the film rights for New Line? Who will they get to direct?''

Within hours thousands of other fans weighed in on lordotrings.com, theonering.com and other sites, worrying about the future of the Tolkien enterprise and asking New Line, which has an option to produce the film until 2009, to back down. Theonering.net was among those calling for a boycott of any Hobbit film not made by Jackson.

``The fan community as a whole is up in arms about the way Peter Jackson has been treated,'' said Chris Pirrotta, a founder of theonering.net site, which has faithfully followed Jackson for years, even posting his video diary during the making of last year's King Kong. ``Fans are very distraught to see someone who's created something so wonderful being treated so poorly by the studio.''

On the heels of the protest, reporters and entertainment bloggers called the studio to ask about the film's fate. In what was once an insular club of power brokers and back-stabbers, the voices of outsiders -- dancing across the globe at the speed of a modem -- have begun to penetrate.

New Line declined to comment on The Hobbit, but said in a statement to The New York Times that the situation was complicated by the lawsuit of Jackson's company, Wingnut Films, against the studio over revenues from the Lord of the Rings, which New Line produced.

Anxiety continued to reverberate in cyberspace. Ian McKellen, who played Gandalf in the Rings series, wrote on his Web site, mckellen.com: ``I'm very sad as I should have relished revisiting middle Earth with Peter again as team-leader. It's hard to imagine any other director matching his achievement in Tolkien country.''

And Saul Zaentz, the veteran producer who holds the underlying rights, was quoted on yet another Web site, this one in German, saying Jackson would indeed direct The Hobbit, which still has no script, no budget, no cast and no production date.

In an interview from Italy Zaentz said he was misquoted, but that Jackson should be the one to direct The Hobbit. ``We would like to see it done, of course with Peter Jackson,'' he said. ``He's a good film director. He's the right guy. He knows it too. But it's a hard thing to do, when you feel you didn't get the money you were supposed to get.''

The contretemps over The Hobbit, those involved say, is really about the lawsuit over revenues from the Lord of the Rings series, which has taken in a staggering $2.9 billion in box office receipts alone.

In February 2005 Jackson sued New Line, saying he was owed money from the trilogy. Jackson has said he sued over profits from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, after he was unable to get New Line to submit to an independent audit of its books. The lawsuit, which was unsuccessfully mediated, still has no court date, and so far no audit has taken place. New Line executives have complained that Jackson has become vastly wealthy from the Tolkien trilogy and is unjustifiably portraying himself as a victim.

Muthagoose says: As long as Spock does the theme song... I can really care less who helms the picture. [/b]

[muthagoose]

What about Uwe Boll?

[Chick-O-Stick]

Niiiiice......