For some time now, I’ve been saying that for one reason or another, Peter Jackson would NOT be back to direct the upcoming Hobbit film(s). I’ve also said that it wouldn’t be the end of the world if I was right. Just 5 or 6 weeks ago I wrote:
I find the whole idea of thinking any casting or director decision “MUST” be any one person, who already happend to play the role or direct a film, a bit silly. Peter Jackson did a magnificent job with LOTR… but how are we to know if someone else might not have done an even better job? We don’t know. Ian McKellen was nothing short of fantastic as Gandalf… but how are we to know that another actor wouldn’t have done an even better job? We don’t know.
If I were a betting man (which I”m not) I’d bet 3 to 1 that Peter Jackson WILL NOT be back to direct The Hobbit. I wish he would, but I just don’t think it’s going to happen (I’d love it if I were wrong on this one).
Well boys and girls, it’s now official. Peter Jackson is NOT going to be involved in the new Hobbit film(s) in anyway way, shape or form due to an inability to come to an agreement with the folks at New Line.
Here are the Cole’s notes of Jackson’s Letter:
– Wingnut (Jackson’s company) is suing New Line (and has been for years now) believing they are owed more money over Fellowship of the Ring
– New Line recently called Wingnut to discuss a package deal to settle the lawsuit and make a new deal for the Hobbit.
– Wingnut refuses New Line’s offer. Wingnut explains that they want to first settle the lawsuit on it’s own without being tied to a new deal before even considering a new movie deal.
– New Line tells Wingnut that since they only have the rights to make these new films for a limited period of time, they will be proceeding on the new Hobbit films without Wingnut, since Wingnut refuses to participate before the lawsuit is settled (which could be years and years).
You can read the whole letter here.
Ok, so what do I think of all of this? Well, a couple of thoughts come to mind… all of which will be very unpopular (but that’s just par for the course around here).
1) After reading the letter, and seeing through all the PR Spin bullshit, it looks to me like Wingnut was trying to hold a gun to New Lines Head. “Either do things our way, or we won’t play ball”. New Line said “Fine, then we’ll play ball without you”.
2) THIS IS ALL ABOUT MONEY from BOTH New Line and Wingnut. Wingnut wants more money from the old film and refuses to budge until they get it (rightly or wrongly). New Line wants to give them as little as possible (rightly or wrongly). Both sides are acting like babies. Yes, they each have money on the line with this lawsuit, but they both stand to MAKE SO MUCH MORE working together on the new projects. But neither of them will budge.
3) I’m getting really sick of Jackon’s PR people trying to spin everything as if Jackson’s shit doesn’t smell like everyone else’s. Despite what the letter says, this is as much about money for Wingnut as it is for New Line, and this is as much Jackson’s fault for not being willing to compromise on the lawsuit as it is New Line’s. The only difference is that New Line isn’t putting out letters to fans pointing the finger at the other guy while acting all innocent. It reminds me of the Halo bullshit all over again… and we all know how that turned out.
4) This is a DAMN SHAME. I would have loved to see Jackson return to the Shire again.
5) This isn’t the end of the world. As I said above, who is to say another director won’t do an even better job than Jackson? We don’t know… because Jackson’s Middle Earth is the only one we’ve seen so far. Many thought it was unthinkable that George Lucas wasn’t going to direct The Empire Strikes Back… well guess what? Many people think it was even better than the first Star Wars now. This could happen again. I’m certainly not saying it will… BUT WE JUST DON’T KNOW.
So there you have it folks, it’s done. Peter Jackson and Wingnut will not be involved in The Hobbit film(s). I am sad, disappointed in New Line and Wingnut both… but at the same time I’m still looking forward to going back to the Shire, even with another director, and hope he’ll do just as good, or an even better job than Jackson did. It’s possible it could happen. We’ll have to wait and see.
Leave your thoughts below.
This isn’t the first time new line has done this to a a director.
bob shaye is a greedy man not peter as he calls him when he’s just keeping the money, but if does win this then he will probobaly be signing with mgm studios as it has said every where all over the internet. So don’y worry………..well for now you can.
Im also very dissapointed about the news of Jackson not directing the hobbit. The middle earth jackson created made you feel it was real and that orcs and goblins did exsit. but the statment above is totaly right. The new director who ever he/she may be could do a fantasic job and create more of a brilliant place.
You just have to give it a chance. I live in new zealand and what jackson did with all lord of the rings films makes you appreciate the countryside and the mountain so much more. for that he’s fantastic. But were all gonna have too wait and see.
What! Holm just ABSOLUTELY, DEFINITELY, OF COURSE, NO DOUBT, UNQUESTIONABLY play Bilbo! He is perfect for the role. And Peter Jackson SHOULD, MUST, ABSOLUTELY direct it. And Ian Mckellen SHOULD, MUST, or it will be the end of the world if he DOESNt play Gandalf!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
though i will probably end up seeing it, i wish i had the willpower to resist and boycott due to the absence of peter jackson in the directors chair….Through watching the films and extras many, many times, i know that everyone involved in the movie understood peter jacksons passion, and most probably have the story embedded in them, so why not have an actor step up to the plate? im only 16 so dont shit on me too hard if u hate the idea :P
hey, this is not star wars!!!! for anyone to think they can compare this wonderfulness to star wars, has some serious issues! oh,by the way,this aint over….pete jackson will direct these movies. he has the entire world behind him, not to mention 2 or 3 doubters.the hobbit & lord of the rings are two totally different stories??? what??? what’s in that pipe your smokin tim? give me a break!! it’s clearly the same story line man, come on! why keep peter jackson? well aside from the most tireless effort ever put into films in cinema history, he is the most passionate director of the stories. go ahead and say (how do we know there is’nt someone out there who has more passion or abillity to do just as good, if not better) i ask you this… where were they before?? peter jackson was the one out there lobbying for this great masterpiece to hit the silver screen, and he was the one who got it done. i will not go see jacksonless hobbit film at the theatre!! im one of those nerds, i went to see the fellowship 17 times, two towers 15 times, and return of the king 19 times. i will not watch the hobbit even once if peter jackson is not at the helm!! but like i said before it’s going to happen, pete will make these new installments! to much money to be lost on newlines part.peter jackson will continue to climb the ladder of being the best film maker in the planet!! thanks for your time.
John,
Good morning.
This is where the difference comes in our attitude. Money, money, money! So New Line were brave to risk a lot of money originally, but that has been recouped many times over. Where’s the risk now? None, if Mr. Jackson & team are involved! Yes, I know there’s a dispute between Mr. Jackson and New Line but from what I’ve read, greedy New Line have a case to answer. What about giving the paying audience (customer) what they want?
If New Line think they’ll get another ‘blockbuster’ in the form of The Hobbit, which does not come from Mr. Jackson and his whole team, then I believe that they’re mistaken. I am not a regular cinema goer, but, being a Tolkien fan, gave FOTR a go and was hooked. However, relatively few who were not already familiar with the story returned to see the other ‘installments’.
This is not like Star Wars etc. This is about bringing a much loved book to life. For the most part, it’s the ‘nurdy’ fans, like me, who will go to the cinema to see the The Hobbit and buy the DVD etc. (and make New Line a fortune), not the general cinema goers’. For Pete’s sake John, Tolkien even produced a whole language! (Don’t know why I mentioned that!)
Although there is plenty of scope for action in The Hobbit, there’s lots of other stuff there too and it’s that the fans want as much as anything else. If we (the fans) were to know that Mr. Jackson & team were going to make the film, then we’d know what we’d be getting and we’ll flock to the cinema. We know the story – what we want is to see it ‘for real’, the Jackson way – ’cause that’s our way too.
Lastly, (and in a quaint, old-fashioned, English, sense of honour & loyalty) I would like to see all other film directors show loyalty to each other and refuse to make The Hobbit and let the ‘rights’ return to whoever (in Germany I think). Then we, the fans, will get the film WE want. I must admit, even if it is a case of cutting my nose off to spite my face, I’ll not be paying good money to go the cinema to see The Hobbit made by anyone other than Mr. Jackson & team – I’ll just wait until it’s on television.
Hey Tim,
The question is… Loyalty to whom? To the camera men? To the Studio (New Line) for being brave enough to risk $300 million dollars on LOTR when no other studio would? To the director? Who?
The question of if Ian McKellen comes back to play Gandalf will have NOHTING to do with Peter Jackson. McKellen is good friends with X-Men and X-Men 2 director Bryan Singer, but he still went back to play Magneto for X-3 withouth Singer… because he is a professional.
Sets are easily re-built
For the record, i don’t think they should get Holm back as Bilbo… get a slightly younger actor for it. It’s not like Holm was in a lot of LOTR… he can (and should) be replaced.
John
I’m working on the assumption that there’s such a thing as loyalty (I know it’s old-fashioned, but I’m English)!
How will another production team show me the same Hobbiton etc.? Will they have access the the original sets? Will Mr. Holm (who ought to play Bilbo since the ‘FOTR’ tells us that he’s hardly aged) or Sir Ian agree to play?
Hey Tim,
Well… you totally spanked my statement that I read the books before you were born. Yup… you spanked me good. LOL I’m 34.
However…
You don’t need the same director to have continuity at all…
I direct you once again to Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Some argue the greatest triplogy of all time… 3 movies, with 3 different directors. No problem with continuity there.
Cheers!
~John
Mr. Campea,
I have no idea how old you are. I am 53 and first read both books when I was 27 and several times since.
Whilst you are correct in saying that they were written for different audiences, I stick to the point that they comprise one story. It is, amongst other things, the story of how Bilbo found the ring. Both books contain the same ring, the same Hobbiton, Bilbo, Gandalf etc. I know that in The Hobbit, the hobbits are described as being somewhat smaller than in LOTR! But it is still part of the story of the ring.
I agree that another director could have done just as well… or better… or almost as good as Mr. Jackson did with the LOTR trilogy. But they didn’t. As a fan, I want that continuity.
Hey Tim,
Mr. Campea has read both books more than you… and read them probably before you were born. If you read them, you’d know they were VERY DIFFERENT stories, with very different feels and written for two very different audiences.
No one director EVER “MUST” direct a film. Ever. There is no exception. No one said Peter Jackson “MUST” direct Lord of the Rings when it was first announced. And yet… he did a great job. Another director could do just as well… or better… or almost as good as Jackson did.
People said it was crazy for George Lucas not to direct Empire Strikes Back after the amazing success of Star Wars… but guess what… it worked. Then he changed directors again for Jedi… guess what… it worked too.
This can work too.
One can only assume that Mr. Campea has not read either The Hobbit or LOTR. They are, after all, part and parcel of the same story. What Mr. Campea fails to realise is that the fans of Peter Jacksons’ (brilliant) film interpretation of the book, will require Mr. Jackson & team to direct The Hobbit for the sake of continuity. Come on Mr. Campea, wake-up!
After a string of flops, NewLine was about to go under. Without the success of LOTR, Newline would have been absorbed into AOL/Time Warner would no longer exist. And LOTR would not have been a success without the heart and dedication to the material by Peter Jackson. Speaking as an artist and creative person, a project of this magnitude is not about the money.
I’ve been on the receiving end of “getting the shaft.” There comes a point when you have to make a stand for yourself. Money is never the only issue, it usually also involves respect. I believe that Peter Jackson’s reasons are legit and he is right to take a stand.
It should be clear that the actors have established the characters and Jackson has established the look and feel…without this continuity the Hobbit is a guaranteed flop. Sure, folks will probably go out of curiostiy, but it will not become the long-term epic that LOTR has become.
apparently MGM isnt giving up on Jackson just yet.
Per Moviehole –
An MGM spokesperson tells Variety today that they’re going to fight for Jackson. The spokesperson states, “The matter of Peter Jackson directing ‘The Hobbit’ films is far from closed.”
Hey, thanks for reminding me, alfie!
I just checked wikipedia, and it seems Kong wasn’t a failure after all (yay). It looks like internationally, it broke records, making it one of Universal’s top grossing films ever. We really need to stop comparing some films to masterpieces (I know, some people would consider LOTR overrated, but it did prove to be a success).
i find it funny that kong is perceived as having not done very well….
550 million worldwide is a lot of cash…even at the cost of the film which admittedly was a lot you take into account the ww box office and the dvd sales the film did fine…did it live up to the unrealistic expectations placed on it? no but when you are comparing it to ROTK which at the time was the second film in history to crack a billion then it was always going to have too much pressure put on its performance….
how many articles i read with “pundits” saying this would be the biggest film of the year and it was going to make trillions of dollars..that was always ridiculous..jackson himself said he didn;t expect kong to be as big as LOTR…
Wow… just, wow.
Okay, if I really wanted to have the full Middle-Age collection, I’d get that animated Hobbit movie (unless it sucks, I don’t really know). I don’t really care for the Hobbit adaption.
Anyway, I love Peter Jackson’s films (LOTR, Kong despite its little flaws; would love to get The Frighteners). However, I can’t help but feel he is going the same path as Lucas is (okay, that’s a low blow on my part. Sorry). Its just that, the longer the court is, the less chances Jackson and/or New Line will ever work together. It seems just like with O’Selznick producing Gone With the Wind, as soon as they reach the peak of filmmaking success it is nothing but downhill (remember Orlando Bloom, not much good films on his part).
Peter Jackson is a great director, IMHO. But he needs to be very careful, chances for having a same hit as LOTR is like lighting striking the same spot twice. Did Kong do very good? Not in the box office, but still made good profits from both theaters and DVDs. Were there flaws? Yes, but overall, I think the film kicks ass.
It is becoming a shame that this stuff has to happen when they (all cast, crew, & studio) gave it their all for a film/franchise. Its just like when Fox denied James Cameron and Ridley Scott to work together on Alien 5, or Bryan Singer on X3.
As soon as Jackson is done with his court case and The Lovely Bones, I’d like to see him direct something good, without all these politics.
Where’s a good script when you need it?
I am also worried as to what this “prequel” film is that isn’t the hobbit…..
I agree with that…sure he moved on to xmen 3 without singer but rumour has it singer wasn’t exactly well loved by that cast anyway…
not to mention whether or not serkis will play gollum either…
all these guys are very tight after what they went through on LOTR and I would be surprised if they went and did it without jackson
The worst part about this really is that it’s unlikely Ian will play Gandalf without Jackson being involved.
oh I know thats what happened I am not arguing that I just don’t blame jackson for not wanting to go ahead with this hanging over them.
I know you said he did a great job and I wasn’t really getting at you as such but sometimes on these movie site boards you read guys saying “all he did was adapt something already written for him” as if all he had to do to make the trilogy was hand the book to the actors and put a camera on them. the book was considered almost unfilmable..it is hard enough to make a decent stephen king film let alone good films out of some of the most well loved books of all time not to mention how complex the books are. the films could have easily been a disaster in the hands of a lesser film maker.
does that mean anyone could have made jaws? I mean speilberg “just” adapted a book…what about the godfather?? what about any film directed by someone who didn’t write the script?
it annoys me when I see people say that thats all..I wasn’t really getting at you….
It is quite obvious he believes new line have cooked the books on LOTR and he wants it sorted before they move ahead….their settlement for all we know was not good enough plus they have no guarantee they won’t do it again.
My biggest worry here is that new line are hardly the smartest company in the worls…they failed to realise that snakes on a plane was the world laughing at them not with them and they also have moved on to sequels without the original crew behind them before with less than stellar results…
are we about to see hobbit and hobbiter?? I totally hand it to new line they took a huge risk on lotr and good on them for doing so..but jackson gave them not only their highest grossing films ever but also gave them their classiest film ever..the new line catalogue is not exactly filled to the brim with high quality cinema.
as for mckellen I really think he might turn it down anyway…have you ever read his online diary..he has been angry with new line for ages about the fact that he was meant to get a piece of the gandalf merchandising money and he is yet to see a penny….
I personally think this isn’t a smart move by new line.
but i also believe it isn’t over yet..I wonder what MGM think about all of this..
I just wanted the film to be part of the same series as LOTR..I wanted the continuity and I just don’t see it..jackson has a unique style that will be hard to emulate..plus what does the new guy do..ignore the trilogy and try to take a fresh approach or does he/she try to copy what has gone before them….
it is just a shame thats all and I personally believe jackson is right to make the choice he has made. if you don’t trust someone you don’t let them make the rules and do what suits them best.
maybe it is for the best in the long run who knows….
I am looking forward to the lovely bones more anyway..I want to see jackson do something like heavenly creatures again…
You all know there was another shot at adapting lotr into a movie 20 years before Jackson did it right? It sucked really bad, even the best books doesn’t always gets treated right and turn out amazing.
I really thought the trilogy would suck really really hard, it came out and well it didn’t suck but Jackson still butchered out almost every good part (Bombadil anyone) about the story though.
If someone else tries to go after the Hobbit I atleast hope they adapt it as the childrens story it is and don’t try to ante up the story to match the trilogy. They are two distinctly different kinds of books.
Hey Alfie,
I already said Jackson did a great job with LOTR. Not sure why we’re debating that.
As far as the lawsuit goes. You said:
“he didn’t want to get back into bed with someone he thinks may have already fucked him.”
That would be fine… but that’s not the case here. If Jackson just came out and said “I don’t trust New Line, so I choose to not be a part of The Hobbit” that would have been understandable and fine. BUT THAT’S NOT WHAT HAPPENED. He said himself in the letter that he wanted to do it, but that he only wanted to do it once the court case was done.
New Line offered to settle out of court and to make a deal for the new movie. Jackson refused. He wanted it to go to trail and THEN he would make a deal for the new film.
Clearly this had nothing to do with Jackson not wanting to get back into bed with New Line. otherwise he would have just said so.
Jackson’s refusal to settle out of court promted New Line to dump him and move on without him. I don’t like it one bit… but that’s what happened according to Jackson.
o.k. campea fair enough but let me clear up what I mean by it was success because of jackson.
what I mean by that is do you realise how fucking easy it could have been for these films to suck? the fact that he was able to make the films in a way that for the most part kept fans of the book happy abut also so the films appealed to a wider audience of people…people who generally sneer at swords and sorcery type of stuff….
and as for court case with new line…go and read art buchwalds book about his court against paramount over his points for eddie murphy’s coming to america this is nothing new – the studios try this shit all the time.
i don’t know if new line are guilty or not but I hardly think jackson was holding a gun to their head….he didn’t want to get back into bed with someone he thinks may have already fucked him. fair enough.
if you did a job and thought the boss had fucked you out of the money he legally was meant to pay you no matter how much you had already been paid you would all do the same thing.
Maybe this is a good thing. I read The Hobbit when I was ten or something, it was great, a properly good and easy read, and it never felt in the least bit overwhelming.
Then I tried to read Lord of the Rings. It took me literally years.
Two totally different books, a different director will do the franchise some good, I reckon.
To be honest. As much as I ADORE the Lord of the Rings films (Fellowship especially being one of the greatest movies I have ever seen) The Hobbit is something that should have really been made before Lord of the Rings, or not made at all. The story is so much more simplistic than LOTR and to a lot of people who will be going in expecting LOTR again, they will be very dissapointed. It’s an adventure on a MUCH smaller scale. It is in no way as grand and epic as LOTR is. If the Hobbit had been made first, and THEN they made LOTR, it would have fit. But as of now I find it hard to believe that this will work in any other capacity than a kid’s movie. Though I hope i’m wrong on this one.
Hmm. Well, to be honest I didn’t think Jackson had LOTR in him. I mean, his resume prior to was less than stellar. Given how successful the franchise was, a new Hobbit movie may attract the attention of a few notable directors. So… I don’t know. It may be OK afterall. McKellan will be sorely, sorely missed if he doesn’t return. And I hope they at least keep the props/sets/locations consistent so it at least feels like it’s the same Middle Earth as Jackson’s films.
It sucks, but that’s show business. :-/
I welcome the possibility that new blood brings. I’ve already seen Jackson’s version, and now I’m open to someone else’s.
Sure, Jackson did a great job, but the groundwork was already laid. Adapt and shoot. It’s not like he’s the only guy on the planet that’s able to adapt Tolken’s writing, and he’s not the only guy on the planet who can shoot fantasy. Who’s to say someone else might not do a better job than him. You never know. Jackson hadn’t exactly proven he was the bee’s knee’s of fantasy filmmaking before he made the Lord of the Rings movies.
I do agreee that a little game of chicken was being played but I’m afraid Jackson just lost.
If Jackson ends up directing, I’ll be happy but if someone else takes a stab at it, I wont miss a thing because I already know what Jackson’s version would look like.
May I say that I think this flick shouldn’t even get made. It’s a prequel, so we know what’s going to happen to all of these people, err, creatures after the credits roll. Who the hell cares about what Gandalf and company were doing before that ring came along and fucked up everyone’s day?
Frankly, I’m kinda disgusted by Jackson & Walsh for putting out that type of letter in the first place. There was no reason for it (even if they kept getting asked about the Hobbit, doesn’t mean they had to respond the way they did).
They could have put out a press release stating that they would not be involved with the hobbit due to ‘scheduling conficts’ or whatever, but instead, they’re trying to make themselves look good, and the other side look bad.
I have no love for big corporations and would be the first to tell New Line to fuck-off (and I doubt they’re fault-free in this either), but Wingnut is not a small mom-and-pop company either.
They’re trying to pass off this corporation (with milions of dollars in revenue a year) as if it’s just ‘Peter Jackson, the artist-director’ against the big-bad corporation, when in fact, Peter Jackson is the head of a corporation himself. Peter may be the director when he’s making a film, but when it comes to company matters, he’s the head of a multi-million dollar corporation.
I feel no sympathy for a C.E.O. of a corp. who tries to pass of the “poor-poor-me” line. It’s bullshit.
This letter is a power-play of sorts, and he thinks we’re going to buy this bullshit just because it comes from him? ah sorry Pete, but fuck you for insulting my intelligence here.
Both parties I’m sure are at fault here to some degree, but I’m not gong to blindly follow Peter Jackson (the head of the corporation called Wingnut films, not the director) like an idiot fanboy just because he made Lord of the Rings. He’s trying to fool all of us into thinking that he’s the tortured artist here, when in fact, that’s not the case at all
Peter Jackson isnt in my opinion anything special.
If your basing your opinion of his directing powers on the lotr films, I think this is the bad thing to do.
He was given one of the most well known books/stories and the origins of pretty much what all fantasy worlds are based on.
It was already a winning formula, yes he did a good job converting it from words to visual, but tbh thats what directors do.
He did a good job, that dosent make him amazing.
The Hobbit will be a sucess with or without him, because again, it already has the foundations of being an excellent movie.
And I’ll agree, he is getting to big for his boots, hes needs to be brought back down to earth before he fades away into obscurity because of his over inflated ego.
Poppe, I disagree with you about Jackson not doing it cos of cash. The point in his letter is that he (or his accountants) have found some kind of irregularity in his accounts, and that he wants this cleared up before he continues with the Hobbit. He states that he just wants to determine if this perceived irregularity is real and wants an independant decison on the matter. He says he’d be happy to continue even if the decision wasn’t in his favour, he just doesn’t want to be ripped off by New Line.
I’m sure Mr. Jackson doesn’t need the money, but I can understand the wish for making sure that other people aren’t making money off Wingnut films when they’re not supposed to.
Hey Alfie:
WOW. Ok, you said a couple of really good things, and a couple oa really silly things. First of all:
“why do you always side with studios over artists in these types of matters??”
Are you even reading the same site as me?!?!?! 7-8 times out of ten I blast the studios. Not sure why you’re only remembering the ones i advocate for them.
ALSO, in my post I clearly said “this is as much Jackson’s fault for not being willing to compromise on the lawsuit as it is New Line’s”
And…
“THIS IS ALL ABOUT MONEY from BOTH New Line and Wingnut”
And…
“Both sides are acting like babies.”
And…
“disappointed in New Line and Wingnut both”
How exactly is that me taking the studios side??? The point is that they’re both to blame for this.
Ok, you also said this Alfie:
“LOTR was a success because of jackson”
I totally disagree with the totallity nature of that statement. Yes, Peter Jackson was one of the big reasons for it’s success… but are you honestly telling me that the fact he had the RICHEST SOURCE MATERIAL ON THE DAMN PLANET had NOTHING to do with the films success? Really? It was all just Peter Jackson?!?! I don’t think so.
I think a lot of people forget Peter Jackson did NOT create LOTR. It was created by JRR Tolken. Tolken crafted it, created it, breathed life into it. Tolken made LOTR the world wide classic that it is. Tolken created the characters, gave them souls. Jackson did a great job dircting it and bringing it to the screen… but LOTR is most certainly not his.
However Alfie, i also think you bring up a couple of good points:
“i think there is a little bit of chicken being played here”
I think it is over… but you’re probably right about this.
Also:
“you can say goodbye to serkis as gollum and mckellen as gandalf”
You might be right about this… but neither of those actors are under contract to Wingnut. If they get offered the roles, I think they’ll take it. Last time i checked, both of them have worked on films without Jackson. Sure they like the guy… but this is their business, it’s their profession, and they’d both do the professional thing. Oh, and Serkis isn’t exactly a millionare, he’d take the work.
Hey Poppe,
I think you’re confusing the term “Another Director” with “Any old director” If New line suddenly announced a guy named “Herman Sherman” was going to be directing The Hobbit, and the guy had never worked on a movie in his life… then you’d be hearing from me for SURE.
New Line has to boogy. The movie rights revert to MGM in a couple of years.
I think Pete Jackson is becoming a greedy SOB. He single handedly is shutting down to pictures for the sake of money (Halo Hobbit). Guess the love of the art only matters until you get a sight of some green.
And John your it doesn’t matter who directs it cos we never know it might be better aproach, does that only go for the LOTR verse. Since all that grief you been spilling about Halo’s director. Nice consistency..
one last thing…I agree with you on some of your points campea but I just read your line about seeing past the “pr spin…”
why do you always side with studios over artists in these types of matters??
the more I read about this the more i think new line are fucking idiots. they thought they could use this as a way to get their lawsuit swept away and jackson said no.
lets face it studios have been ripping people of for years with their creative accounting so I won’t be surprised to find out that is what they have done to jackson…
I don’t think this is over yet to be honest….i think there is a little bit of chicken being played here..
But you just know that brett ratner is on the phone to new line right now asking about this….
oh and one more thing – you can say goodbye to serkis as gollum and mckellen as gandalf…guarantee it.
I know you always like to play devils advocate campea or talk about things hypothetically but LOTR was a success because of jackson. those films were his. this is a silly decision by the studios as they are not going to get anyone big in to do it..cameron won’t do it…speilberg aint going to do…..jackson ain’t doing….who really at the moment is out there.
I know jackson was a highly unlikely choice back in the day and you could argue maybe there is another unknown out there like him blah blah blah but lets face it that was a fluke. that was not something that happens everyday and also you have to remember that LOTR was a HUGE gamble. it wasn’t the sure thing that the hobbit is so they are not going to risk this “franchise” with a nobody like they did first time around,…oh no….
paul anderson…brett ratner……don’t those names make you shiver….because i will almost bet anything they go with someone like that.
hey this is the same studio that made a sequel to dumb and dumber without any of the original makers involved so all is not lost because that turned out great!!!and the mask as well so hopefully this will follow in the same grand tradition…..
i think what i’ll miss the most from a jackson-less Hobbit is the feel of his respect for the source material and the contrubution of his writing partners. that said, i really don’t care for Jackson’s directing..he’s good at adapting shit, but thats about it, he’s not a “creator” in my mind
another person coming on board may be a good thing…it may end up becoming the x3 of that franchise, but what the hell right?