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]
Category: Peter Jackson
In my opinion Halo is to video games what American Idol is to television, and yet both 20th Century Fox and Universal decided a Halo movie (with newbie director Neill Blomkamp directing) just wasn’t going to happen. But that was then, and this is now — with Halo 3 getting set to demolish the gaming world, Peter Jackson told OnFilm magazine that he expects the project to lift itself out of development hell once Fox and Universal catch a glimpse of the Halo hype first hand. As far as Blomkamp goes; Jackson notes: “We wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else. It’s Neill’s call.” But that’s not all the man has on his plate; apart from directing The Lovely Bones, Jackson is producing a remake of 1954’s The Dam Busters; a project he’s kept quiet about for quite some time. [More]
From The Hollywood Reporter: A week after DreamWorks picked up Peter Jackson’s “Lovely Bones,” Steven Spielberg and Jackson are teaming up again, this time to bring Spielberg’s long-gestating pet project “Tintin” to the big screen. Sources said Monday that Jackson and Spielberg would each direct installments of the franchise, which is based on a series of Belgian comic books called “The Adventures of Tintin” by Herge. It is unclear whether other filmmakers would be involved, and no script has been written. The movies would be made using motion-capture technology. In the comics, Tintin is a young Belgian reporter and world traveler who is aided in his adventures by his faithful dog Snowy. He later was joined by such colorful characters as Captain Haddock, Professor Cuthbert Calculus and bumbling detectives Thomson and Thompson. The books, hugely popular in Europe, have been translated into 50 languages, with more than 200 million sold. [More]
To celebrate their return to London’s biggest and baddest movie, comic and media convention, Weta Limited are selling 1,200 collectibles from their King Kong range at the bargain price of £1! Sounding a little too good to be true? Well, it isn’t!
Weta Limited will be attending the London MCM Expo on 26-27 May, and for convention attendees only, will be offering 1,200 Kong Fighting V-Rex statues at just £1.That’s right, the first 1,200 punters to approach the Weta stand at the convention and ask for a Kong Fighting V-Rex statue will be promptly sold one on the spot for one golden pound.
This piece usually retails in Weta’s online store for at least £30! Never before has Weta done a giveaway on this scale, (and it is likely that it won’t happen again).
This will also mark the first time that Weta’s pieces from their Hellgate: London and Weta Originals ranges have appeared on European soil, making more reasons than one for those UK collectors to make the MCM London Expo their first port of call next weekend.
Punters are encouraged to come early to ensure they receive their £1 King Kong piece.
STEVEN Spielberg will join forces with Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson for the New Zealander’s new film. Spielberg’s DreamWorks film studio won the right to finance Jackson’s film The Lovely Bones after fierce bidding by three other major US studios last week. DreamWorks will put at least $79 million into the film, which is an adaptation of Alice Sebold’s best-selling 2002 novel about the murder of a 14-year-old girl and the impact it has on her family. Spielberg, who has reportedly been wanting to work with Jackson for some time, said he had been passionate about securing the film. [More]
The Visual Effects Society has named the entire LOTR Trilogy on their list of the most influential visual effects film of all time! From a select list of 50 titles, LOTR came in at the following numbers:
19. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
33. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
36. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
Peter Jackson’s ‘King Kong’ was named 38th on the list, the original Star Wars comes out on top. Click here for the whole list. [More]