Official 'The Hobbit' Thread

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This is a continuation thread, the old thread is [split]257051[/split]

 

[Dan33977]

(Mods- I know there is already a thread about PJ and The Hobbit, but it is refers to a completely different news item about the project. This breaking news deserves a new thread so that people won't have to shuffle through the old thread for a story they might not even know about.)



I just found this on TheOneRing.net, the uber fan site for The Lord of the Rings.



Some back story for those who don't know:


It seems like about a year ago or more PJ and Co. sued New Line Cinema, claiming that they gave 'sweatheart' deals to their own merchandising companies for stuff like toys, calendars, and who know what instead of shopping around for bids for the best offer. PJ claims that this practice cost him around $100,000,000.00 for FELLOWSHIP, according to Variety. We can then assume that the same would apply for TWO TOWERS and RETURN OF THE KING, for a grand total of $300,000,000.00. Jackson had an independant auditing company look over the books, but New Line did not give, so the law suit proceeded.



Here's the letter from Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh:





Dear One Ringers,


As you know, there's been a lot of speculation about The Hobbit. We are often asked about when or if this film will ever be made. We have always responded that we would be very interested in making the film - if it were offered to us to make.


You may also be aware that Wingnut Films has bought a lawsuit against New Line, which resulted from an audit we undertook on part of the income of The Fellowship of the Ring. Our attitude with the lawsuit has always been that since it's largely based on differences of opinion about certain accounting practices, we would like an independent body - whether it be a judge, a jury, or a mediator, to look at the issues and make an unbiased ruling. We are happy to accept whatever that ruling is. In our minds, it's not much more complex than that and that's exactly why film contracts include right-to-audit clauses.


However, we have always said that we do not want to discuss The Hobbit with New Line until the lawsuit over New Line's accounting practices is resolved. This is simple common sense - you cannot be in a relationship with a film studio, making a complex, expensive movie and dealing with all the pressures and responsibilities that come with the job, while an unresolved lawsuit exists.


We have also said that we do not want to tie settlement of the lawsuit to making a film of The Hobbit. In other words, we would have to agree to make The Hobbit as a condition of New Line settling our lawsuit. In our minds this is not the right reason to make a film and if a film of The Hobbit went ahead on this basis, it would be doomed. Deciding to make a movie should come from the heart - it's not a matter of business convenience. When you agree to make a film, you're taking on a massive commitment and you need to be driven by an absolute passion to want to get the story on screen. It's that passion, and passion alone, that gives the movie its imagination and heart. To us it is not a cold-blooded business decision.


A couple of months ago there was a flurry of Hobbit news in the media. MGM, who own a portion of the film rights in The Hobbit, publicly stated they wanted to make the film with us. It was a little weird at the time because nobody from New Line had ever spoken to us about making a film of The Hobbit and the media had some fun with that. Within a week or two of those stories, our Manager Ken Kamins got a call from the co-president of New Line Cinema, Michael Lynne, who in essence told Ken that the way to settle the lawsuit was to get a commitment from us to make the Hobbit, because "that's how these things are done". Michael Lynne said we would stand to make much more money if we tied the lawsuit and the movie deal together and this may well be true, but it's still the worst reason in the world to agree to make a film.


Several years ago, Mark Ordesky told us that New Line have rights to make not just The Hobbit but a second "LOTR prequel", covering the events leading up to those depicted in LOTR. Since then, we've 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. 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. We've assumed that we would possibly get started on development and design next year, whilst filming The Lovely Bones. We even had a meeting planned with MGM executives to talk through our schedule.


However last week, Mark Ordesky called Ken and told him that New Line would no longer be requiring our services on the Hobbit and the LOTR 'prequel'. This was a courtesy call to let us know that the studio was now actively looking to hire another filmmaker for both projects.


Ordesky said that New Line has a limited time option on the film rights they have obtained from Saul Zaentz (this has never been conveyed to us before), and because we won't discuss making the movies until the lawsuit is resolved, the studio is going to have to hire another director.


Given that New Line are committed to this course of action, we felt at the very least, we owed you, the fans, a straightforward account of events as they have unfolded for us.
We have always had the greatest support from The Ringers and we are very sorry our involvement with The Hobbit has been ended in this way. Our journey into Tolkien's world started with a phone call from Ken Kamins to Harvey Weinstein in Nov 1995 and ended with a phone call from Mark Ordesky to Ken in Nov 2006. It has been a great 11 years.


This outcome is not what we anticipated or wanted, but neither do we see any positive value in bitterness and rancor. We now have no choice but to let the idea of a film of The Hobbit go and move forward with other projects.


We send our very best wishes to whomever has the privilege of making The Hobbit and look forward to seeing the film on the big screen.


Warmest regards to you all, and thanks for your incredible support over the years.
We got to go there - but not back again ...


Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh

 

[Boom]

Jeez. And I believe there's a correlation between ulcers and high stress levels. Kinda scary.

Rest up and get well soon, PJ.

 

[Sgt.Pepper]

Why is the other thread closed? Anyway hope that Peter have a swift recovery.

 

[Jackasscoley15]

What the hell is going on with the two Hobbit threads? Anyway, here's a repost:

Peter Jackson stomach ulcer scare

Filming of The Hobbit will be delayed after director Sir Peter Jackson was hospitalised with a perforated stomach ulcer.

Jackson was admitted to Wellington Hospital last night with acute stomach pains.

A statement said he had undergone surgery for a perforated ulcer.

"Sir Peter is currently resting comfortably and his doctors expect him to make a full recovery."

Sir Peter's surgery is not expected to impact on his directing commitment to The Hobbit beyond a slight delay to the start of filming, the statement said.

The Hobbit author JRR Tolkien suffered from a perforated ulcer before dying in 1973.

A perforated ulcer is a when an ulcer in the stomach burns completely through the stomach lining, leaving a hole for stomach acid and foods to enter the abdominal cavity.

In 2005, Sir Peter revealed he had lost over 31kg in 10 months, though other reports put the figure at up to 49kg, which he attributed to intense hard work.

Last week, he was reported to be scouting in Fiordland with the help of five helicopters for locations to the films.

His spokesman, Matt Dravitzki, confirmed the filmmaker was location scouting in the Queenstown area before filming starts next month, and that crews were also looking for sites in the North Island.

Warner Bros last year threatened to take the production to Eastern Europe because the films were the subject of a boycott by several international actors' unions, including New Zealand's Actors' Equity.

The studio agreed to keep the movies in New Zealand after the Government changed employment laws and gave millions in tax breaks.

While it's a little sad that shooting will be delayed, I'm glad that he's going to be getting rest before taking on this massive project. Because honestly, I was already beginning to worry about the guy when I saw him interviewed about the actor strike. He looked like he was about to have a stress-induced heart-attack, and that was months before shooting was scheduled!

Get well PJ!

 

[Boom]

I thought Morg re-opened the last thread.

This new system confuses/frustrates the hell out of me.

 

[Jackasscoley15]

Same here. On top of that, the stuff posted in the original second thread got merged before it was locked.

 

[Whiskey Tango]

*sigh*

 

[C. Lee]

The 1,000 post closing point back in effect....but I'm taking the PART 1 crap off.

 

[C. Lee]

I thought Morg re-opened the last thread.

This new system confuses/frustrates the hell out of me.

It's not doing anything good for us either...all it's doing is causing us major headaches.

 

[Morg]

1K is back? Oh crap

 

[Boom]

Thanks for the title change, C. Lee .

In any case, there may be a small blessing in disguise here. It's no secret that PJ's been under an enormous amount of stress regarding this project - with the MGM delays, GDT's departure, the union strikes, and WB's threat to take The Hobbit out of New Zealand.

While the circumstances surrounding it are terrible and unfortunate, I think forced rest would do PJ a world of good. Assuming he can actually bring himself to rest.

But there's no reason for any director to put his health at risk for the sake of meeting a film's start date. We've waited this long. Another couple of weeks won't kill us.

Hopefully he takes the time he needs.

 

[Angel_Faerie]

Resubbing....again.

 

[Jackasscoley15]

Thanks for the title change, C. Lee .

In any case, there may be a small blessing in disguise here. It's no secret that PJ's been under an enormous amount of stress regarding this project - with the MGM delays, GDT's departure, the union strikes, and WB's threat to take The Hobbit out of New Zealand.

While the circumstances surrounding it are terrible and unfortunate, I think forced rest would do PJ a world of good. Assuming he can actually bring himself to rest.

But there's no reason for any director to put his health at risk for the sake of meeting a film's start date. We've waited this long. Another couple of weeks won't kill us.

Hopefully he takes the time he needs.

Agreed. I don't think it would help him or the movie if he were to enter the shoot carrying the weight of the past year's complications. I'd rather wait and have him be focused and clear minded, rather than have him be punctual and face potentially worse stress-induced problems half-way through the shoot.

 

[lespaul59]

If they where to cast James Earl Jones for Smaug, I think doing Smaug similer to the way he played Thulsa Doom would be great.

 

[Violet Lantern]

James Earl Jones for Smaug...I like it. Another suggestion: I wonder if they could talk Sean Connery out of retirement for a voice acting part like Smaug?

 

[Octoberist]

Thanks for the title change, C. Lee .

In any case, there may be a small blessing in disguise here. It's no secret that PJ's been under an enormous amount of stress regarding this project - with the MGM delays, GDT's departure, the union strikes, and WB's threat to take The Hobbit out of New Zealand.

While the circumstances surrounding it are terrible and unfortunate, I think forced rest would do PJ a world of good. Assuming he can actually bring himself to rest.

But there's no reason for any director to put his health at risk for the sake of meeting a film's start date. We've waited this long. Another couple of weeks won't kill us.

Hopefully he takes the time he needs.

Yeah, I get the sense it's major, major stress levels.

 

[Violet Lantern]

I hope Peter Jackson gets to feeling better. I'm sure an ulcer is NOT a pleasant experience to go through.

 

[C. Lee]

I hope Peter Jackson gets to feeling better. I'm sure an ulcer is NOT a pleasant experience to go through.

I hear it makes your font color purple.

 

[Donut]

I'm starting to think that this movie is cursed

 

[green]

I'm starting to think that this movie is cursed

uh, so am I.

Hope Jackson gets well soon.

 

[dark_b]

i hope he makes a full recovery. and i hope that he will change hes mind and leave Hobbit behind. he can lie that he is not feeling good. noone will be angry Pete.

go make something original.

 

[green]

i hope he makes a full recovery. and i hope that he will change hes mind and leave Hobbit behind. he can lie that he is not feeling good. noone will be angry Pete.

I would.

 

[Jackasscoley15]

i hope he makes a full recovery. and i hope that he will change hes mind and leave Hobbit behind. he can lie that he is not feeling good. noone will be angry Pete.

go make something original.

You're not to very familiar with how filmmaking works, are you? After all of the problems that the film has survived through, and the amount of work that has gone into the pre-production stage (not to mention the amount of money Warner's has already spent), quitting now would be a GIANT waste of resources.

Not to mention the majority of the cast and crew that are already in New Zealand prepping for the shoot, and that most of the sets and props are already built. Also have to remember that he is currently under contract with the studio (as well as everybody else), so quitting completely at this point would be completely out of the question, particularly with such a large project.

So I'm afraid it would require a better excuse than "changing hes mind".

 

[Doctor Jones]

I'm glad Jackson will make a full recovery. But does it have to happen to the guy who has suffered the living hell that he went through?