Giddy-up, lil’ Hobbit, for your day in Hollywood may be at hand!
The Hollywood Reporter announced that New Line Cinema, the Tolkien estate, and publisher Harper Collins have finally settled on a long-standing dispute over payment of the film trilogy’s massive earnings.
While the actual numbers of the settlement are still unknown, this much is true — the Tolkien estate has dropped any legal action against the upcoming prequel for “The Hobbit.”
“The Trustees regret that legal action was necessary, but are glad that this dispute has been settled on satisfactory terms that will allow the Tolkien Trust properly to pursue its charitable objectives,” said Christopher Tolkien in a statement. “The Trustees acknowledge that New Line may now proceed with its proposed films of ‘The Hobbit.’ “
September 9th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Excellent. It’s about time.
September 9th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
Woo-hoo!!
September 9th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
If this just happened today, or in the past couple of days, I wonder why it did not stop the studios and Peter Jackson from getting a director, Guillermo Del Toro, for both Hobbit movies. Del Toro has even been scouting locations in New Zeland. Usually, legal stuff keeps productions on hold. Maybe they did not see this as a major hurdle to stop the movies.
September 9th, 2009 at 9:15 pm
@Fletcher – I think it’s probably more true that lawsuits are often used as an excuse to spike a project that studios already have reservations about, that kind of thing, than to say that they often or usually keep productions on hold. If they believe they have a valid claim on the license, and believe that the movie will make more than enough to cover any losses they may suffer in court, I have a feeling most businesses would go ahead with the project while the iron is still at least relatively hot.