Parliament has passed the government’s new law to clarify the position of contractors within the film industry. MPs have voted 66 to 50 in favour of the law, which is part of the deal brokered with movie producer Warner Brothers earlier this week to keep production of The Hobbit in New Zealand. This was that the Employment Relations Act would be amended to make sure a worker engaged on an independent contract will not be able to go to court and claim employee rights and conditions.
Labour fought the Employment Relations (Film Production Work) Amendment Bill to the last clause, arguing it isn’t necessary and the government is “sticking it to the unions”. During the debate, Labour’s David Parker accused the government of playing a “political game”. “I don’t even think Warner Brothers demanded this. There wasn’t a problem to be fixed, there have been no problems in the film industry for the last five years,” he said. Labour and the Greens are accusing the government of capitulating to a foreign company, abusing parliamentary process and making a mockery of democracy. But ministers say Warner Bros would have pulled out of New Zealand without the commitment to change the law. Read More…
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The Los Angeles Times reports today that Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum, founders of Spyglass Entertainment, have signed a non-binding letter of intent to manage MGM, according to familiar sources. They are also discussing a Chief Operating Officer position for veteran Hollywood executive Ken Schapiro.
They write: “Schapiro is partnered with Amir Malin in private media investment fund Qualia Capital, which earlier this year proposed restructuring MGM with a $500 -million cash infusion to keep the studio alive as a scaled-back operation.” The Hobbit production would need such an infusion of cash to get off the ground.
There is more issues to consider before the deal can be approved and MGM’s sixth forebearance date (September 15th) is looming. Read the entire story here.
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Our thoughts and prayers go out to our friends in New Zealand today as news comes of a very large earthquake in Christchurch. [Read More]
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Women are not the only ones that cry at movies. Men have admitted they too can open up the waterworks if the movie moves them. And what movies move men the most?
According to a Top 20 list compiled by the BBC News Magazine, Lord Of The Rings tops them all for men. Especially Return Of The King. No surprise for many of the TORN faithful on that selection.
You can read the entire article here.
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Today, Turbine released new screenshots from the upcoming Volume 3, Book 2 of The Lord of the Rings Online, which will launch this fall. The update will make the game free-to-play for all and will introduce Turbine’s innovative new pricing model, as well as extend the award-winning story. The new screens depict Enedwaith, a new zone south of Eregion that will be added to the game. Earlier this week, Turbine posted an in-depth developer diary about Enedwaith, which you can view here. Continue reading “New LOTRO Free-to-Play Screens – Enedwaith”
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The U.K. Daily Mirror has reported that the next film in the James Bond franchise has been suspended indefinitely due to financial woes at MGM:
Production company EON confirmed in a statement yesterday: “We do not know when development will resume and cannot comment further at this stage.” Production crews were told in April the £132million blockbuster, starring Daniel Craig, had been postponed amid “financial problems” at debt-ridden movie studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which co-funded the film. But now it has confirmed the movie has been axed – and it could be years before the secret agent with a license to kill is back on the big screen.
What this means, if anything, for The Hobbit is only speculation, but it certainly isn’t encouraging. Let’s hope the fact that The Hobbit is literally poised to move forward, once the green light is given, encourages both sides of the financial crisis to settle their differences as soon as possible. Read the full story here.
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