THE BORE
General => The Superdeep Borehole => Topic started by: Phoenix Dark on December 18, 2007, 12:02:23 PM
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After nearly three years of legal battling and six months of settlement talks, it's all over. Best for all parties, The Hobbit and its sequel will finally be made back-to-back for New Line and MGM the way they should be -- under the Academy-Award-winning creative vision of Mr. Lord Of The Rings. But Jackson won't be directing this time out, because of his previous commitments to DreamWorks for The Lovely Bones and Tintin trilogy with Steven Spielberg. The two Hobbit films – The Hobbit and its sequel – have long been stalled. Now they are scheduled to be shot simultaneously, with pre-production beginning as soon as possible. Principal photography is tentatively set for a 2009 start, with the intention of releasing The Hobbit in 2010 and its sequel the following year, in 2011.
This deal not only settles all of Jackson's litigation relating to the LOTR trilogy -- he sought to audit New Line's accounting for the 1st Lord Of The Rings pic -- it may well allow Shaye to stay on as chairman/CEO of New Line when his contract expires next year. He certainly needed the leverage after several years of disappointments and outright flops. (Like this month's The Golden Compass whose budget soared to $200M-$250M but whose domestic tally is just $44M. The pic is doing OK overseas, however.) Shaye's future prospects improve since it's entirely possible that The Hobbit could duplicate the humongous critical and financial success of the LOTR Trilogy which grossed nearly $3 billion worldwide at the box office and whose 3rd installment Return of the King in 2003 swept the Academy Awards, winning all of the eleven categories in which it was nominated, including Best Picture, the first ever for a fantasy film.
The deal provides for New Line and MGM to co-produce and share worldwide distribution rights for The Hobbit and its sequel. That provides MGM chairman/CEO Harry Sloan with the shot in the arm he needs to secure more financiing for his struggling studio.
I was able to confirm the settlement after news first leaked onto the website TheHobbitBlog.com early this morning. Later this morning, Sloan and Shaye will make a joint announcement about the settlement and deal. Here's what's been agreed to:
1. --> MGM and New Line will co-finance and co-distribute The Hobbit and a sequel. New Line will distribute in North America and MGM will distribute internationally.
2. --> Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh will serve as executive producers of the two films. New Line will manage the production of the films, which will be shot simultaneously.
3. --> Peter Jackson and New Line have settled all litigation relating to the LOTR Trilogy.
The usual surfeit of fawning statements by all concerned were made. Peter Jackson issued this sattement: “I’m very pleased that we’ve been able to put our differences behind us, so that we may begin a new chapter with our old friends at New Line. The Lord of the Rings is a legacy we proudly share with Bob and Michael [Lynne], and together, we share that legacy with millions of loyal fans all over the world. We are delighted to continue our journey through Middle Earth. I also want to thank Harry Sloan and our new friends at MGM for helping us find the common ground necessary to continue that journey.”
Harry Sloan said, "Peter Jackson has proven himself as the filmmaker who can bring the extraordinary imagination of Tolkien to life and we full heartedly agree with the fans worldwide who know he should be making The Hobbit. Now that we are all in agreement on The Hobbit, we can focus on assembling the production team that will capture this phenomenal tale on film."
Bob Shaye said: “We are very pleased we have been able to resolve our differences, and that Peter and Fran will be actively and creatively involved with The Hobbit movies. We know they will bring the same passion, care and talent to these films that they so ably accomplished with The Lord of the Rings Trilogy.”
“Peter is a visionary filmmaker, and he broke new ground with The Lord of the Rings," noted Michael Lynne, New Line Co-Chairman and Co-CEO (whose contract also expired in 2008 same time as Shaye's. “We’re delighted he’s back for The Hobbit films and that the Tolkien saga will continue with his imprint. We greatly appreciate the efforts of Harry Sloan, who has been instrumental in helping us reach our new accord.”
http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/urgent-peter-jackson-jackson-will-executive-produce-hobbit/
Sequel? *sigh*
I love Jackson's work on LOTR, but I'm very concerned about turning the Hobbit into LOTR, plus giving it an unnecessary sequel. Both books are vastly different and should be treated differently
And I'm not convinced a movie about 12 almost indistinct dwarves, a hobbit, and Gandalf is going to appeal to audiences. Billing it as "the prequel to LOTR" is only going to confuse audiences and leave them disappointed most likely :(
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Executive produce? So he will let them put his name in the credits and get some money out of it?
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I'm assuming he's going to have a lot of control over the film, including choosing a director, influencing the screenplay, etc
iirc Jackson has stated that he and Walsh have a basic script ready for it
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the hobbit owns
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According to Manabyte ( ::)) the book isn't going to be split. The sequel is going to instead be based on appendix stories that tie The Hobbit and LOTR together, such as Aragorn's search for Gollum.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=218403
While that sounds much more logical than splitting a 300 page book into two films, I'm still not certain about this.
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Haha like you know movies
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According to Manabyte ( ::)) the book isn't going to be split. The sequel is going to instead be based on appendix stories that tie The Hobbit and LOTR together, such as Aragorn's search for Gollum.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=218403
While that sounds much more logical than splitting a 300 page book into two films, I'm still not certain about this.
That is what Jackson said in a interview with AICN last year I think. That he wants to do a second based on appendencies and his own ideas.
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Haha like you know movies
says the man with an underworld avatar
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You wouldn't know anything about underworld, because you dont know movies.
I think calling Blade Runner pedestrian was the dumbest thing youve ever said
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You wouldn't know anything about underworld, because you dont know movies.
I think calling Blade Runner pedestrian was the dumbest thing youve ever said
Personally, I vote for the Unforgiven "review".
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It was an obvious troll dude. I think it's an average movie but it's too fucking spectacular from a technical point to call pedestrian
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So does this mean there'll be hobbits filmed through a soft filter jumping up and down on the bed for ten minutes of faggotry at the end of the film?
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Man I wish I could backpeddal from all the stupid stuff I said by saying 'oh its a troll'
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It was stupid I know, and admitted as much.
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Fine by me. Get someone better in there.