Woah... Just.. woah.

[lithera]

TheOneRing.net has received an official statement from Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh about The Hobbit . The two have made clear that New Line has passed them up, due to Wingnut Films' lawsuit against the studio regarding "The Fellowship of the Ring," and that the studio is looking for a new director to take on The Hobbit and a mystery second "Lord of the Rings" prequel.

Comments

[apestyle.livejournal.com]

Weak Sauce.

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

Boy, that sounds like an amazingly bad idea.

[jeditigger.livejournal.com]

Hello, New Line? Welcome to BAD IDEAS INC.

[antonstrout.livejournal.com]

Yeah, cuz THEY won't suck sans Jackson...

fools...

[elsewhere7.livejournal.com]

*headdesk* They don't get it. After George Lucas, announcements of Wolverine, Magneto, whatnot.

Prequels DO NOT WORK.

Stop going for prequels, and create new things, already. As much as love The Hobbit, just...they need to let it go.

[lithera.livejournal.com]

Prequels can work. You just have to have ideas that don't suck.

[jeditigger.livejournal.com]

YOU HAVE A CHICKEN LITTLE ICON!!!

Oh, SNAP!

[littledrow.livejournal.com]

What's the lawsuit and why was someone stupid enough to try to take our coolness?

[lithera.livejournal.com]

I honestly can't remember. I'm sure it is look-up-able. TheOneRing.net probably has something.

[fireballof3.livejournal.com]

The Hobbit would be a decent movie to make, but if they treated it as a prequel (using same actors & whatnot) it could be tricky w/ Bilbo.

Maybe it's better if it moves to a totally different director / studio - that way we'll get a totally different look at the charactors (and theycan use different actors easier)

[lithera.livejournal.com]

Well, it won't be a different studio. new Line is adamant about that. They made too much money to let it go.

[fireballof3.livejournal.com]

So, it'll be Weta & such, but not Jackson & Walsh? That's ... odd

[lithera.livejournal.com]

It might be. New Line is the studio. WETA is an effects company. I don't know where WETA stands on it.

[inevitability.livejournal.com]

A couple things could be happening here...

First, Peter Jackson is being an idiot over this lawsuit. His manager is right that they should have settled and made the movie. Lawsuits are initiated on a very simple cost benefit analysis. If the accounting issue was found to be NL's error, there wouldn't be any public condemnation or anything so this was purely and economic lawsuit. As such, the settlement plan made much more sense and Peter Jackson was doing what a lot of people do. He was being stupid and not listening to the people he hired to give him advice (his manager, and probably his lawyer). Ultimately, this is his fault and NL clearly got tired of waiting around for him since lawsuits take a LONG time to end.

Second, NL is most likely pissed as hell that Jackson has been holding them ransom and acting like he's the only person on the planet who can make a movie. The idea that he wont even consider making a movie until the suit ends (probably a VERY long time) or they settle with them is basically blackmail. Additionally, it is questionable whether he has the authority to blackmail the studio like that. Sure Jackson struck gold with LotR, but Kong was largely a dud and the rest of his movies were abysmal. NL might have just come to the conclusion that they don't want anything to do with him anymore... or they might have contacted Jackson's manager in an effort to wake him up and prod him along.

However, it appears that in addition to lacking the good sense to wash his greasy hair, he also lacks the good sense to settle the accounting suit and just make the damn movies.

Being his lawyer must be a nightmare.