OMEN
10-07-2007, 09:47 AM
Peter Jackson may soon reach an agreement with a Hollywood studio to make The Hobbit despite suing the same studio for unpaid profits from The Lord of the Rings.
Representatives for Jackson have been in talks for several weeks with New Line Cinema on making The Lord of the Rings prequel, after earlier falling out.
A cover story in Entertainment Weekly published yesterday called Return of the Ring quotes "sources close to the talks" as saying that "a deal may be reached".
"There has been a detente", an "insider" said.
While the talks have taken place, Jackson has continued with legal action against New Line Cinema over unpaid profits from The Lord of the Rings.
This week a trial date was set for January in the United States, the Hollywood Reporter said.
Last month a judge fined New Line, the film trilogy's financial backer, US$125,000 (NZ$165,500) for failing to turn over court-ordered documents in the case.
US district court magistrate Stephen Hillman issued an order blasting New Line for ignoring repeated court orders to hand over several types of documents, including e-mails, memos and internal correspondence.
New Line could have challenged the ruling, but in a response filed this week its lawyer wrote: "Mindful that the court's resources are valuable and limited, New Line will neither oppose the award or seek review of the order."
Jackson claims New Line did not properly account for income from the first film, The Fellowship of the Ring, including DVD sales and box-office sales outside the US, and denied his repeated requests for an audit of the other two films, The Two Towers and The Return of the King.
The films have made more than US$4 billion.
The Dominion Post
Representatives for Jackson have been in talks for several weeks with New Line Cinema on making The Lord of the Rings prequel, after earlier falling out.
A cover story in Entertainment Weekly published yesterday called Return of the Ring quotes "sources close to the talks" as saying that "a deal may be reached".
"There has been a detente", an "insider" said.
While the talks have taken place, Jackson has continued with legal action against New Line Cinema over unpaid profits from The Lord of the Rings.
This week a trial date was set for January in the United States, the Hollywood Reporter said.
Last month a judge fined New Line, the film trilogy's financial backer, US$125,000 (NZ$165,500) for failing to turn over court-ordered documents in the case.
US district court magistrate Stephen Hillman issued an order blasting New Line for ignoring repeated court orders to hand over several types of documents, including e-mails, memos and internal correspondence.
New Line could have challenged the ruling, but in a response filed this week its lawyer wrote: "Mindful that the court's resources are valuable and limited, New Line will neither oppose the award or seek review of the order."
Jackson claims New Line did not properly account for income from the first film, The Fellowship of the Ring, including DVD sales and box-office sales outside the US, and denied his repeated requests for an audit of the other two films, The Two Towers and The Return of the King.
The films have made more than US$4 billion.
The Dominion Post