Message board member Voronwe the Faithful has come through for us once again. He’s the first to report on the results of hearing on New Line’s Demurrer and Motion to Strike, held on June 24.
“Well, it looks like my take on the demurrer that New Line filed in the case filed against it by the Tolkien family and publisher was pretty darn accurate. The court sustained the demurrer with leave to amend within 20 days. The court explicitly held that the allegations in the Complaint support nothing more than a breach of contract cause of action. Assuming that the plaintiffs are unable to satisfactorily amend the complaint to assert new allegations that support the fraud and/or breach of fiduciary duty causes of action (a virtual impossibility), those causes of action are out, and New Line is protected from the possibility of an award of punitive damages.”
If you missed it, be sure to read the article Voronwe shared with us on Clearing up Misconceptions Regarding the Tolkien vs. New Line Lawsuit. And, as always, if you have opinions or concerns to share on the topic, be sure and check out the discussion underway on our message boards.
Posted in:
Share:
Defamer is reporting an interesting bit Guillermo del Toro said this week at the Los Angeles Film Festival, first mentioned by Del Toro himself more than a month ago right here on the TORn message boards. When asked about the second movie, Del Toro answered:
We believe there is a second movie, if there isn’t, there will not be. If we find it, we will shoot it, but by God, if we do not find it, we will not shoot it. I am anxious to shoot the book, and I’m willing and able to dedicate myself to shooting the [second film].
Guillermo Del Toro also confirmed what material can be used for building the second film:
In the four books that are in the domain of the copyright, there are appendices and ideas and things that can be traced without risk. But I have to be careful not to overstep. We believe there is a way to create this film and make it interesting, but it’s too early.
The article goes on to mistakenly say Jackson owns the rights to those four novels, but as we know, the rights are owned by Saul Zaentz and can be used by New Line Cinema through a concession. Language warning for those who follow the link. [Defamer]
Posted in:
Share:
Variety is reporting on New Line’s present and near future status, clearing up several things that have been said in the past several months:
“There’s no mandate to make a particular kind of movie,” Horn states. “We’re not going to wind up bidding against each other across the table. And New Line will not just be doing genre, since that’s a space filled pretty well by Lionsgate, Screen Gems and Dark Castle […] There’s no budget number required. They’ll be doing about six per year, though the number may go from four to seven; it’s not going to be 10.
The article also touches an aspect many have wondered about in our forums:
There are also the two “Hobbit” films and a possible sequel to “The Golden Compass”. The question is how much Warner Bros. will get involved in those tentpoles.
We will just have to wait and see! [Variety]
Posted in:
Share:
From the New Zealand Herald: Animation technology used in blockbuster movies such as Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings is now helping children to walk. The Gait Laboratory at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Brisbane uses animation technology developed at Weta Digital in Wellington to see why some children, as young as 3, have trouble walking. Gait Laboratory director Dr Robyn Grote said the technology was reducing the number of times children had to undergo surgery because of its precision in mapping a child’s motion. Read More
Posted in:
Share:
diedye sends along word that Guillermo del Toro will be a guest on ABC’s ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!‘ tomorrow (Friday, June 27th) and then as a repeat on Thursday July 3rd. He is no doubt there to talk about ‘Hellboy II: The Golden Army’, but Jimmy will undoubtedly ask him about ‘The Hobbit’. ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ airs on ABC weeknights at 12:05AM/11:05PMc.
Posted in:
Share:
SciFi.com caught up with director Guillermo del Toro at the Saturn Awards and talked to him a bit about the upcoming ‘Hobbit’ films. Del Toro had this to say about his adaptation of ‘The Hobbit:’
“I’m trying to be faithful,” del Toro said in an interview after accepting the George Pal Memorial Award at the Saturn Awards in Universal City, Calif., on June 24. “Like, when I was trying to create a screenplay about Tarzan and people asked me, ‘Is it going to be horror?’ I said, ‘No, no, no.’ The thing is, I’m trying to re-create on the screen the feeling I had when I was 11 in my bed reading the book. How excited I got. How great I thought it was. That’s what I’m trying to honor.”
Read the full article over at SciFi.com. [Read More]
Posted in:
Share:
