Wow, things are getting a little nasty around that Peter Jackson / New Line / "The Hobbit" / lawsuit story. New Line Cinema chief Bob Shaye recently spoke pretty candidly regarding his feelings for the man who gave him the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Basically, Pete’s not welcome around New Line anymore.
According to IGN Movies, here’s what Shaye had to say about Peter Jackson: ""He got a quarter of a billion dollars paid to him so far, justifiably, according to contract, completely right, and this guy, who already has received a quarter of a billion dollars, turns around without wanting to have a discussion with us and sues us and refuses to discuss it unless we just give in to his plan. I don’t want to work with that guy anymore. Why would I? So the answer is he will never make any movie with New Line Cinema again while I’m still working for the company."
Wow, so does this mean Peter Jackson won’t be directing stuff like "Son of the Mask" or "Dumb and Dumberer" anytime soon? Darn.
So what does this ultimately MEAN in relation to a movie version of "The Hobbit"? Well it seems like one of two things is bound to happen:
1. New Line, presently working against the clock as far as its right to the property goes, can go into production with a new director, writer … and probably a bunch of new actors.
2. MGM and Saul Zaentz get the rights back if New Line doesn’t make the movie in time, which means they’d probably get to make the movie with Jackson and whatever other studio wants to help bankroll the project.
Ugh, how’d this all get so complicated? Oh yeah, the accusation of unpaid debts and a nasty lawsuit. That’s how.
