Sideshow Collectibles has just revealed their next Lord of the Rings diorama: Aragorn VS Uruk-hai – The Walls of Helms Deep. This piece looks to be rather large in comparision to the first diorama (Frodo and Gollum – The Crack of Doom), but we’ll have to wait and see! If you didn’t hear about this announcement via email, make sure to join the Sideshow Collectibles newsletter, or, of course, you can just check TORn a lot too! [View Preview]
Month: June 2007
New Line founder Bob Shaye shows no signs of yielding in the company’s legal squabble with Peter Jackson over profits from “The Lord of the Rings.” In a conversation at AmPav on Tuesday with Variety editor-in-chief Peter Bart, Shaye said the company had already paid Jackson and his wife, Fran Walsh, $250 million in profit participation. The clash happened because “one of us has gotten poor counsel,” Shaye said, without elaborating. Co-chief Michael Lynne struck a more upbeat note. “We do want to settle our dispute and I think we will.” A “Hobbit” pic is still in the plans, both execs were coy about reports that Sam Raimi is being lined up to direct. “There’s never been any announcement,” Lynne said. “Like a lot of people, he might,” Shaye added. [More]
Variety is reporting that New Line is getting sued again over Lord of the Rings profits, this time by a group of Kiwi actors. The actors feel that some questionable accounting has made it impossible to ever get paid a “5 percent of net revenue” clause outlined in contracts from merchandising based on characters they portrayed. The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court Wednesday.
This sounds similar to the contentions of Peter Jackson that New Line is participating in unfair accounting practices that keep talent from getting paid. Jackson and New Line are famously litigating over money on that front, although a New Line official said last week at the Cannes film festival that he thinks it will be settled. Lots of news stories are circulating that New Line’s new fantasy film “The Golden Compass” is being marketed as LOTR IV.
Those filing the lawsuit aren’t Hollywood stars but the names will be familiar to TORnados: Noel Appleby, Jed Brophy, Mark Ferguson, Ray Henwood, Bruce Hopkins, William Johnson, Nathaniel Lees, Sarah McLeod, Ian Mune, Paul Norell, Craig Parker, Robert Pollock, Martyn Sanderson, Peter Tait and Stephan Ure.
The full Variety story can be found right here.