LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - An escalation in the war of words between New Line co-chairman Bob Shaye and "Lord of the Rings" filmmaker Peter Jackson appears to be nixing any possible reconciliation between the two -- or any chance that Jackson will direct the trilogy's prequel, "The Hobbit."


In an interview with the Sci Fi Channel news service Sci Fi Wire, Shaye said Jackson will never make another movie for the studio and said the filmmaker just wants more money.

"I don't care about Peter Jackson anymore," Shaye said. "He wants to have another $100 million or $50 million, whatever he's suing us for. He doesn't want to sit down and talk about it. He thinks that we owe him something after we've paid him over a quarter of a billion dollars. ... Cheers, Peter."

In response, Jackson issued a statement Tuesday that did not attack Shaye but aimed at clarifying his issue with New Line. Jackson said the lawsuit stems from the studio's refusal to account for financial anomalies that surfaced from a partial audit of "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" and that is has denied his repeated requests to audit "The Two Towers" and "The Return of the King."

"Fundamentally, our legal action is about holding New Line to its contractual obligations and promises," Jackson said. "It is regrettable that Bob has chosen to make it personal. I have always had the highest respect and affection for Bob and other senior management at New Line and continue to do so."

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"Men rise and fall like the winter wheat, but these names will never die. Let them say I lived in the time of Achilles."
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Wow...to be honest, Peter really is bieng very silly about this, I mean...like Shaye said, he's alreayd been payed SO much!
jeez!


and btw, doesnt this go in movies and tv? maybe not...i dunno...:\

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Isn't that upsetting? Shaye's being really stubburn.

I'm going to move this over to Misc. Movie discussion. I'll stick it there so more people will see it- not many visit the "other movies" section.

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Kudos to Kitoky for the fabulous signature set, and art credit to engelszorn.
Who wants to join me in bringing back the lady?

*sigh* yes, PJ has a lot of money... but, he started the whole LotR movie thing, shouldn't he be the one to continue it?

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~art credit~

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^ By me and my SS *squiggle hugs*

I think both parts of this conflict are really stubborn. PJ is a rich man and shouldn't be demanding on the money, but of course New Line Cinema should keep in professional and if they have made a contract they shouldn't break it.

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^ By me and my SS *squiggle hugs*

^
Exactly.
The question has to be asked. If New Line feel they have paid him everything that is owed by them, then why are they so afraid to let the accounts be viewed? A bit suspicious really.

I back PJ 100%

Wingnut have issued there own statement:

"Our issue with New Line Cinema has only ever been about their refusal to account for financial anomalies that surfaced from a partial audit of The Fellowship of the Ring. Contrary to recent comments made by Bob Shaye, we attempted to discuss the issues raised by the Fellowship audit with New Line for over a year but the studio was and continues to be completely uncooperative. This has compelled us to file a lawsuit to pursue our contractual rights under the law. Nobody likes taking legal action, but the studio left us with no alternative.

For over two years, New Line has denied us the ability to audit The Two Towers and The Return of the King, despite repeated requests. Film auditing is a common and straightforward practice within the industry and we don't understand why New Line Cinema has taken this position.

In light of these circumstances, I didn't think it was appropriate for me to be involved in New Line Cinema's 40th Anniversary video. I have never discussed this video with any of the cast of The Lord of the Rings. The issues that Bob Shaye has with the cast pre-date this law suit by many years.

Fundamentally, our legal action is about holding New Line to it's contractual obligations and promises. It is regrettable that Bob has chosen to make it personal. I have always had the highest respect and affection for Bob and other senior management at New Line and continue to do so."

Source: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/31211

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Don't you think P.J. is kind of arrogrant about the money thing? I don't know who I support though.

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Faith isn't the ability to believe long and far into the misty future.
It's simply taking God at His Word and taking the next step Joni Erickson Tada

I honestly don't think he is being arrogant. He is merely asking to have things checked. All he's asking is for things to be checked. If New Line have been 100% honest in there business practices, then why get tetchy when a perfectly legal and acceptable part of movie making is asked of them?
I'm very suspicious of that.

And as JF said previously, this is more than just PJ getting his cut, it's Fran, Phillippa, all the cast and more than likely the WETA people as well.

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^ By me and my SS *squiggle hugs*

I agree with the above supporters of Peter Jackson and company. There's a poll about this in the polling section too where it's been discussed. I find it very wrong that New Line isn't willing to even let a neutral party inspect the books...that is suspicious. No offense but after over a year, if you were innocent and tired of arguing it...you'd provide proof of that innocence, wouldn't you? Now, New Line has MGM on their back too, supporting Peter, so I hope New Line gets their act in gear and settles this once and for all.

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..back again, picking myself up, dusting off..and facing life..

I am fully behind PJ with this one - New Line could have avoided all of this simply by allowing an audit of the books for all three films. The very fact that a partial audit threw up anomolies - after which any further audits were refused - to me, suggests that New Line have something to hide.

Yes - there is no doubt that everyone has done extremely well out of the trilogy, but to accuse PJ or Wingnut Films of simply doing this to squeeze extra money out of New Line is missing the point.

All PJ asked for was an audit of the books, as he is entitled to do, which is hardly an unreasonable demand. Had this been carried out, and he, and the other members of the cast and crew (many of whom will not have made millions from this film) had had all of the money that they were entitled too, then that would have been that. No arguments, no law suits, no potentially adverse publicity for anyone.

It is sad that Mr Shaye had been reduced to making spiteful and insulting comments. However I suppose that since he has no valid reason to deny an audit of the books, mud-slinging is all that he has left.

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Be alert - the world needs more lerts