Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson has been told he will not be employed on The Hobbit, the next film adaptation of a JRR Tolkien novel. New Line Cinema, with whom he has been in dispute about income from the first LOTR film, was not using him, he said.
Jackson had refused to discuss a Hobbit film until the case was settled but New Line said it now wanted to move on as it had "limited time" to make the film.
The Rings trilogy generated nearly $3bn (£1.6bn) in cinemas around the world.
Jackson's film company, Wingnut Films, brought a legal action against New Line resulting from an audit the company undertook on The Fellowship of the Ring.
Jackson, a devoted Tolkien fan, said he had been removed from the Hobbit project by New Line, who also hold the rights to a second Lord of the Rings prequel.
The Oscar-winning director said New Line would not allow him to make the films unless he dropped the lawsuit.
Fans of Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings films have long called for a film version of The Hobbit.
The book tells the story of how Bilbo Baggins took the ring from Gollum.
"We have always assumed that we would be asked to make The Hobbit and possibly this second film, back-to-back, as we did the original movies," Jackson's e-mail to TheOneRing.net fan website read.
"We assumed that our lawsuit with the studio would come to a natural conclusion and we would then be free to discuss our ideas with the studio, get excited and jump on board."
Meetings with film executives had been planned, Jackson explained, but then New Line called his manager to tell him that the company "would no longer be requiring our services on The Hobbit and the prequel".
New Line was "actively looking to hire another film-maker for both projects", Jackson added.
"This outcome is not what we anticipated or wanted, but neither do we see any positive value in bitterness or rancour.
"We now have no choice but to let the idea of a film of The Hobbit go and move forward with other projects."
Chris Pirrotta, co-founder of TheOneRing.net, said the fan site had a long-running relationship with Jackson.
Fans were "very upset", Pirrotta told Reuters. "We are seeing calls for everything from letter-writing campaigns to a boycott of the studio."
Was that "$3bn" to mean 3 BILLION?
and they're arguing? Obviously Jackson did something GOOD. I hope this ends up slapping New Line in the face for going with someone else. YOu don't mess with a good thing. lame-os.
Unless Jackson was stealing money or something and that was the reason for the audit. i dunno... But, making the HObbit into a movie sounds cool.
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I'm somewhat dissapointed by this, but oh well, hopefully they'll do a good job regardless. what intrigues me is the fact they have a second prequal in mind. whats that about?
Love is a very powerful force, especially when its formed into a coherent beam of death.
I think that they are making a huge mistake by not have Peter Jackson doing this movie. First off, he is a HUGE Tolkein fan, and he will really bring it to life, in my opinion, like no one else will/can.
I'm with SS... a second prequal?
:::>^..^<::: ~*~The Journey is more important than the end or the start~*~ :::>^..^<:::
Tolkein not doing The Hobbit? I won't accept that, he truly did a great drop with the original trilogy. To just drop him because you don't want to pay him is wrong on New Line's part. Now they'll employ some guy who will just make a crappy movie.
I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.
- Bill Cosby
The guy who takes a chance, who walks the line between the known and unknown, who is unafraid of failure, will succeed.
- Gordon Parks
Lawless said this in post #7 : And, it's going to piss off a lot of fans too, I bet. People will be angry with New Line... don't you think?
They definitely will be. One thing you don't do is mess with your fan base, especially since LOTR has become synonomous with Jackson. If he did an excellent job with the films ushering such great profits for your studio, it's just plain stupid to move forward with a project without him.
I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.
- Bill Cosby
The guy who takes a chance, who walks the line between the known and unknown, who is unafraid of failure, will succeed.
- Gordon Parks
I agree with Gaboman. as to the second prequel, the only thing that readily comes to mind is the massive backstroy that is the Silmarillion, and its not something i'd consider movie making material, much less cramming it all into seemingly 1 movie
Love is a very powerful force, especially when its formed into a coherent beam of death.
11-21-2006 11:45 AM
@ Heck!
