You know this is getting mainstream when the Boston Globe editorializes about Peter Jackson not directing the film version of “The Hobbit.” I had blogged a couple of weeks ago about New Line Cinema’s decision not to let to Jackson direct because of a dispute over “Fellowship of the Ring” profits. For once I completely agree with the Globe:
The production company, New Line Cinema, ought to settle its lawsuit and let him get to work. ... The trilogy was graced by skillful actors, but Jackson pulled the sprawling production together and became a star himself on the DVDs, which include segments that explain the magic of how he did it. Setting the films in his native New Zealand was a master stroke. The movies never flag through almost 11 hours on the extended DVD versions.
OneRing has organized a letter writing campaign to press New Line to accept the audit. If New Line won’t accede to Jackson’s condition, then its parent companies, MGM and Time Warner, ought to intervene to produce a settlement.
Amen to that. I know that there is a vocal minority of folks who think Jackson’s movies an abomination for some reason, but I think—for a film adaptation—you couldn’t get much more than what you got. If New Line continues to remain obstinate in this matter, they will face disaster. They should settle the profit dispute because whatever millions they must give up, they will surely make it back tenfold in a Jackson-helmed “Hobbit.” There are no such guarantees if anyone else makes it.
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