Reuters North American News Service, December 18th, 2007
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - After months of bitter
legal wrangling, Peter Jackson, New Line Cinema and
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc have agreed to make two movies
based on the book "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien.
In a statement Tuesday, the companies said Jackson, the
director of the smash hit "Lord of the Rings" movies, and
producer Fran Walsh will executive produce both a "Hobbit"
movie and a sequel, but Jackson was not named as the director.
"We don't have a director yet," said a New Line
spokeswoman.
The movies will be made simultaneously starting in 2009,
and a tentative release date has been set for 2010 for the
first film and 2011 for the second.
MGM and New Line, a unit of Time Warner Inc , will
co-finance the films, with New Line distributing them in the
United States and MGM internationally.
MGM is a closely held company owned by several private
equity firms and media divisions of Sony Corp and
Comcast Corp .
Science fiction fantasy "The Hobbit" tells of a world
inhabited by wizards, dwarfs, elves and little people called
hobbits, who include the central character, Bilbo Baggins.
"The Hobbit" preceded Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" books,
which were made into smash hit movies by New Line, starting
with 2001's "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the
Ring."
Combined with two sequels -- "The Lord of the Rings: The
Two Towers" and "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King"
-- the three took in roughly $3 billion at global box offices.
The final movie, "Return of the King," won Oscars for best
movie and best director for Jackson. But the director later
sued New Line, claiming the studio had improperly accounted for
the movie's profits and owed Jackson money.
That suit has now been settled, allowing movies based on
"The Hobbit" to go into development, with Jackson attached and
with MGM, which owned film rights to "The Hobbit," as part of
the team.
"I'm very pleased that we've been able to put our
differences behind us, so that we may begin a new chapter with
our old friends at New Line," Jackson said in a statement.
(Reporting by Bob Tourtellotte; editing by Gerald E.
McCormick)
