Peter Jackson may not be directing The Hobbit afterall

[Unklemonkey]

New Line Cinema cohead Bob Shaye has lashed out at The Lord of the Rings ringmaster Peter Jackson, calling the Oscar winner greedy for suing the studio over disputed profits from the first film in the trilogy. He also left little doubt that New Line considers the director persona non grata when it comes to future projects, including the highly anticipated big-screen adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit.

"I do not want to make a movie with somebody who is suing me," the studio chief told Sci Fi Wire while making the publicity rounds for his own directing effort, the family-friendly fantasy film The Last Mimzy. "It will never happen during my watch."

Linky: http://news.yahoo.com/s/eonline/2007011 ... 681258dea9

All I know is I'll be righteously pissed if he doesn't, I loved the LOTR trilogy and would hate to see The Hobbit possibly get butchered by a new guy.

[BRP]

It's quite a dumb idea anyway ;o

[finale23]

for Bob Shaye, that's one hell of a career-ending move.

[Krandor]

Eh, the old animated one was good enough for me.

[Lbelle]

this is OFN sorry

It has been known for months, and if you search around you can find other articles about how Ian McKellen was upset because PJ isn't directing etc. I think I posted about this a long time ago hehe.

[Navia]

Eh, the old animated one was good enough for me.

/agree
The 'animated gollum' in the hobbit is a much more interesting design than the CG LOTR one imo >.>

[Kiro]

WITH A WHIP

WAPSHH

THERE'S A WAY

[Eaglestrike]

this is OFN sorry

It has been known for months, and if you search around you can find other articles about how Ian McKellen was upset because PJ isn't directing etc. I think I posted about this a long time ago hehe.

If they lose Peter Jackson and Ian...lol...

[Fhqwghads]

PJ butchered LotR anyway. I'm sure someone else could do worse, but I won't give a damn if PJ doesn't direct The Hobbit.

P.S. Brother Theodore will always be Gollum in my mind. Andy Serkis can go suck eggs.

[Bethany]

"January 11, 2007 - Following yesterday's strong statement by New Line honcho Bob Shaye, who said that Peter Jackson would never make The Hobbit under his watch, the LOTR director has issued a statement to fans through Wingnut Films via the Ain't It Cool News website.

"Our issue with New Line Cinema has only ever been about their refusal to account for financial anomalies that surfaced from a partial audit of The Fellowship of the Ring," the statement reads. "Contrary to recent comments made by Bob Shaye, we attempted to discuss the issues raised by the Fellowship audit with New Line for over a year but the studio was and continues to be completely uncooperative. This has compelled us to file a lawsuit to pursue our contractual rights under the law. Nobody likes taking legal action, but the studio left us with no alternative."

It is regrettable that Bob has chosen to make it personal," Jackson goes on to say. "I have always had the highest respect and affection for Bob and other senior management at New Line and continue to do so."

All this drama comes after Jackson announced in November that New Line would not let him direct The Hobbit given the on-going legal dispute between the two parties. New Line is co-producing The Hobbit with MGM, with the latter studio owning the distribution rights to the project. New Line only has a limited period of time in which to make the film, at which point MGM and producer Saul Zaentz can make their own moves. Zaentz has gone on record saying that he wants Jackson to direct.

What will happen with The Hobbit? Jackson's only shot at making it seems to be if New Line lets the project slip by, an unlikely scenario. We'll keep you posted on further developments. --IGN.com"

If you are a fan of Jackson, just hope New Line drags their feet and loses the license rights before a film gets made so the new owners can make it with Jackson.

[Kyreth]

That's exactly what I'm hoping for. New Line doesn't settle the financial stuff with Jackson, is forced to sit on the license until it expires, Jackson/MGM does the Hobbit, we win and Bob Shaye is crucified by his stockholders.

Bonus: New Line is found to have cheated on it's disclosures and ends up fined to the nines, Bob Shaye not only crucified but ridden out of Hollywood on a rail.

[Neosutra]

LoTR were horribly made. Horrible plot development, horrible character development, and a damn pathetic excuse for a book to movie epic. The trash that was eragon was better then this crap. I walked out of 2 of the LoTR movies after the first 2 hours of bullshit acting and directing. Ill be damned if i spend my money on the hobit if Jackson has his hands on it.

[Kyreth]

LoTR were horribly made. Horrible plot development, horrible character development, and a damn pathetic excuse for a book to movie epic. The trash that was eragon was better then this crap. I walked out of 2 of the LoTR movies after the first 2 hours of bullshit acting and directing. Ill be damned if i spend my money on the hobit if Jackson has his hands on it.

You're welcome to your opinion, but Hollywood bases theirs on the ticket sales. And by those standards, Eregon blew chunks compared to LoTR. Heck, by almost any standard Eregon blew chunks. But that's a long review.

You want a blow-by-blow copy of the book into the movie, it's never, ever going to happen...we call those "bombs" in the movie industry. Was the Wizard of Oz? Heck, Narnia or flippin' Gone With the Wind? No. Yet they were successes at the box office. So it is with LoTR, and would be with the Hobbit. Jackson figured out how to mine three good movies out of Tolkien's books, not make three books in movie form.

[izembo]

lotr movies sucked, maybe this will be decent?

[Po]

I don't get how people say the LOTR movies sucked. Sure everyone has an opinion, but any real LOTR fan would know these were the best adaptation of the books there has ever been.
and stfu about Tom Bombadil not being in the movies.. Jackson has repeatedly said that it lended nothing to the overall story which is very true. Every other attempt at LOTR and/or the Hobbit has failed, w/o Jackson and McKellen a big screen Hobbit would be terrible.
I personally think The Hobbit is the best story of the four.

[Bethany]

LoTR were horribly made. Horrible plot development, horrible character development, and a damn pathetic excuse for a book to movie epic. The trash that was eragon was better then this crap. I walked out of 2 of the LoTR movies after the first 2 hours of bullshit acting and directing. Ill be damned if i spend my money on the hobit if Jackson has his hands on it.

I think one reviewer of Eragon said it best about the film: It's a movie based on a book... written by a teenager... with a script that looks like it was written by a child.

The butchering job they did on Eragon can't even begin to compare with what Jackson and his team did with Lord of the Rings. That being said, nearly every book that has been turned into a movie hasn't been been done so with 100% accuracy on all accounts. To do so would give movies based on books running times in excess of 5+ hours easy.

I don't personally prefer the theatrical versions of Jacksons LotR Trilogy, but I love the Extended versions. People who loved the books but hate what Jackson did to the films should read about why certain things were done the way they were and how much blood, sweat, and tears not only Jackson put into the the movies, but everyone involved as well in bringing this all to the screen. Here is a good source for information, it's long but then again very informative.

[izembo]

i dont say it sucked because of it not representing the books, i didnt read the books nor do i care to. i say it sucked because it was boring and wasnt even the least bit interesting, especially once it got to the 2hour mark i just kept saying to myself, when's it gonna end.

[Creeps]

i dont say it sucked because of it not representing the books, i didnt read the books nor do i care to. i say it sucked because it was boring and wasnt even the least bit interesting, especially once it got to the 2hour mark i just kept saying to myself, when's it gonna end.

If you didn't read the books, your opinion doesn't really matter to 95% of the fan base or BG forums.

[Lbelle]

You all are fucking crazy. Lord of the Rings was the best series of movies I have ever seen in my entire life, and I have read the books numerous times and thought PJ and his team did a remarkable job. They left out certain aspects of things, sure, it's a movie and they had to. Deal with it. I'd love to see anyone attempt to do better, because I'm almost positive they couldn't.

Changing things like giving Arwen more than she deserved irked me, yeah, because I hate Liv Tyler...but I understand why the did it. Changing her to saving Frodo instead of Glorfindel, yeah, I get that too. Not putting Tom Bombadil in, yeah, another one I can understand why they changed. Killing Haldir...that threw me off a bit, but again it was war and they had to show the casualties of war that were close to those of the main characters.

I mean, the list goes on and on and on and on with stuff they changed, or put here that should have gone there. But if you're going to look for all of them and then call the movies themselves bad, fuck off. He captured Middle Earth so brilliantly, and I think the cast was wonderful, and all three movies were something very very special.

edit: And for you guys saying ERAGON was better than Lord of the Rings...LOL??????? I read Eragon, and I loved it. But fuck man...that book was OBVIOUSLY a rehash of Star Wars, but instead they used Dragons and Dragonriders instead of Jedi. Think about it for a while. The movie didn't develop ANY characters. Characters like Murtough got the short end of the stick. Brom was played well, but again his character was changed. The ONLY good thing about that ENTIRE movie was Saphira. Saying Eragon is better than LOTR....wow. You guys are really fucking stupid.

[Intense]

Whenever I watch these movies I fall asleep 8)