Edit: The whole title didn't carry: Peter Jackson: Why New Line is Being a Bully and why PJ should turn turn the other cheek.

You know I am usually able to see both sides of the coin, but I have to tell you, this dispute with New Line Cinema and Peter Jackson (they have now blacklisted him) is just insane.

Check this out:


What disturbs me most about this, is that once again, money seems to be more important than any artistic expression. I feel like I am watching Kindergartner's fight. He said....but he said...but the rules say.... I am not sure either side is right (although I do believe that New Line Cinema if they have nothing to hide should submit to the audit and stop whining about it. They run a multi-billion dollar company...oversights happen and checks and balances are never a bad thing.) , but I do think that any attempt to make the Hobbit at this point will be so overshadowed by this petty squabbling (look up PJs net worth) (Look up New Lines' Net worth) (Look up my annual salary....I mean come ON!)  that the millions and millions of fans who want to have voice will have none, because...money is in the way.

J.R.R. Tolkien must be turning in his grave about now!!

so we should call Mr Profesor who is necromant?

Really this news is very bad... and painful... In cinematography now everything is money... 

It's very sad to read this bad news. New Line Cinema is very ungrateful to PJ, in my opinion. I think, we still have to wait many years before the "Hobbit" will be filmed. 

I agree, Celebne.  IIRC, they were nearly broke before LotR came along, and in any case PJ's work allowed them to make tons of bucks.     

*small voice* How evil is it that I don't really care who's right as long as somebody other than PJ makes The Hobbit?

I agree that they're acting like children.  Frankly, even a lot of international politics boils down to the same thing, except with armies to back you up.

What surprises me is that sympathy for PJ's position has been very high (and fairly unanimous) in our fandom! Doesn't it bother anyone that he is pursuing an additional $50M, when he's already made a gazillion dollars from the Lord of the Rings franchise?  I have more sympathy for New Line, frankly.

Also, maybe it's good for The Hobbit to be made by someone with a different vision of Middle Earth and Tolkien?

Well i don't think anyone other than PJ and New Line really know what's going on . . .

If it is true that New Line paid up $50 million dollars short, and i was PJ i would be annoyed.
But then again, i'm more than Sure that many generation sof the Jackson's could live off of PJ's current funds . . .

Oh good...I think I'll second you here, Cress. I admit I was not enthusiastic about PJ directing that at all... I just care about the book too much, I guess...and I have all the LotR trilogy experience...

Maybe it is good maybe it is bad. Maybe Hobbit won't be so hollywoodish

Okay wait...

as has been said, yeah we don't know which side is right, as we have never seen the contracts. But...that does not excuse a wrong from being done, if its been done. I hate paying my cable company for something I know costs them pennies to maintain on my side. But I signed a contract and no matter what I say, I have to live up to it. Even if I am 5 dollars short, if I don't pay my bill it will be sent to collection and then on to court of need be.

I do agree that that law is the law. Contracts are made to be honored and if there is a dispute, you take it to court.

But what bothers me, is that an artistic expression is being held ransom. Put aside the idea that it is Peter Jackson. It could have been anyone. The point is, if New Line doesn't like your business practices, no matter how fair you are trying to be, you will be blacklisted. So even if there was a truely superior director with whom the Hobbit could brought to its shining beauty with...New Line might throw them out the door if they question the accounting.

Peter Jackson is just the metaphor here for a bigger problem. Money are art do not mix. I see it over and over again with truly inspired Indie films that never even make it to the big screen because they have no "market". If a film can't gross more than a 100 million...its chances of being seen are small.

Sorry to rant, but I firmly believe that New Line is in this practice is being narrow minded. They may be totally right and they owe him nothing, but why not take it to court to see? What is to hide?

And not to sound too waffling...but after I read what is being said by both sides...You know PJ comes off sounding more reasonable than New Line. New Line DOES sound like a buly!

 

Actually, I'd forgotten that MGM has the Hobbit rights, so this might not stop PJ from making it if they want him.

First, I agree with your point about production companies essentially holding artists to ransom. It is unfortunate that the folks with money aren't willing to take more risks on perfectly deserving work that's not necessarily great box office fodder.

However, having read the whole PJ-New Line saga, I think PJ could have gone about this differently. First, he could have attempted negotiation or arbitration, instead of immediately pursuing his legal remedies, without even notifying New Line of this. Second, I can't help but think that this is very well-timed posturing by PJ.  He knows that he has an enormous amount of sympathy and good will among LotR fans, and he was willing to risk that New Line would be unable to make The Hobbit without him (because of popular opinion being against using any other director), and that New Line would have no choice except to pay up. I think what we're seeing now is New Line calling PJ's bluff, if you will.

PJ doesn't own the Tolkien franchise, and maybe it's time someone reminded him of it?

True, true, but...MGM has said it is not interested in it as of yet.

One thing I should point out as someone said to me in PM. I didn't state whether I was pro or con PJ making the hobbit.

I am of the opinion that PJ should not make the Hobbit. Although I think WETA should do the special effects. I think like Harry Potter, that director's stagnate when they devote too much time on the same subject matter. I appreciate his talent and his dedication and can't wait to see The Lovely Bones ( Loved that book) but I think The Hobbit needs fresh blood.

However, I still stand by my thought that New Line needs to deal with things instead of looking like pushy bullies.

I think it's time for New Line and PJ to sit down and work this all out, for both their sakes. Or, to quote Judge Kozinski, "[t]he parties are advised to chill."

Mattel, Inc. v. MCA Records, Inc., 296 F.3d 894 (9th Cir. 2002).

 

Yes, personally I find the whole thing rather irratating.

Has anyone heard anything recently about it? The last thing I heard was, a couple of months ago, that New Line had asked... uh, Sam something, I think - the guy who directed Spiderman - to do it. And I heard a rumour that he'd agreed, but nothing since.

Personally I'm starting to dread it's appearance. Sure, Pete did some things that really annoyed me and messed up the story a bit, but he did work really hard at it and did an incredible job, and he has a lot of respect for Tolkien's history. It could have been so, so much worse. After seeing the cartoon version I have an inkling of just how much they can mangle the story, and I just... dread it.

Maybe it'll never happen?