Feb 12 2008Some Other Crap That Happened...
- Those greedy bastards at the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien are under the impression that having created the lush world, characters, and entire story of The Lord of the Rings entitles them to some percentage of the profits, and are suing New Line. The suit may delay or halt production of The Hobbit, but shouldn't effect Asylum Studio's direct-to-DVD The Hole Midget. (Thanks, Eccoli) [Yahoo!]
- In further lawsuit news, now that production on Watchmen has begun, Fox is suing Warner over rights issues on the graphic novel adaptation. Fox claims they hold exclusive copyright and contract right; Warner says they own, like, all the original issues, and Fox only started liking it after liking comics became cool. [Hollywood Reporter]
- After doing what most critics admit was a serviceable job with Cormac McCarthy's No Country For Old Men, the Coen Brothers are set to adapt Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policemen's Union for screens. Needless to say, it will be almost definitely be really, really good. [Variety]
- My One and Only, a comedy based on the childhood of George Hamilton, has nabbed Renne Zellwegger to play a glamorous mother searching for a wealthy father to raise her sons. Casting is still looking for young males between 8 and 14 who are also strangely orange. [Variety]
Reader Comments
1. ElSardine - February 12, 2008 10:03 PM
Greedy bastards?!,New line made 7 billion on those movies,and only payed the estate 67.000$ look it up.
2. LenS - February 12, 2008 10:46 PM
Actually, New Line didn't pay them a dime. Tolkien sold the rights for that low amount after his wife died. He needed some cash to handle the estate taxes that were coming when he died. Those rights were in Saul Zantz's hands. He produced the not so good animated efforts. If you want to blame anyone, blame the UK govt. for having ridiculously high death taxes at the time. Or Tolkien for not being more clever about finding a better way to finance those taxes (a loan using book revenues as collateral would seem to have been a much better way to handle it).
And don't moan for the estate either. The release of the trilogy on film made a fortune for the estate through huge increases in book sales around the world.
In fact, since the estate is basically Christopher Tolkien, this is more about his guilt about not giving his dad good financial advice all those year's ago.
It's funny how Christopher all of a sudden decided to release "The Children of Hurin" as a complete novellette since the appearance of the films. Clearly, he's hoping to turn it into a film he can control.
3. Bas - February 13, 2008 2:10 AM
I never the rights were sold. Nothing they can really do at that point.
4. Uncle Eccoli - February 13, 2008 9:17 AM
Nah, New Line aren't a bunch of scheisty bastards, having only been sued three times by my count over monies they had agreed to pay to various people for LOTR. Just wait, this one will settle, too.
Are you really that cynical, or are you just upset that you may not get to see The Hobbit raped as well? Christopher Tolkien is an old man, 84, I think... Shame on him for wanting to continue his father's work and disseminate so many of his unfinished manuscripts in a consumable form in his final years (no, I am not referring to the films). Call me naive, but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Besides, I doubt Hurin would play very well on the big screen - in case you hadn't noticed, it's sort of a downer...
None of these movies should ever have been made, if you ask me. So many young people who have never even read a cereal box now believe LOTR is about swordplay and monsters.
5. LenS - February 13, 2008 5:55 PM
Gee, are you Christopher Tolkien? How sad that millions of people after seeing the films have gone and read the books. It would be much better if such riff raff had stayed away.
There's nothing sadder than literary snobs getting snobby about fantasy. Please stick to being a snob about boring authors like Hemingway or novels like "The Great Gatsby". The rest of us normal humans will simply get the dual pleasure of reading the books AND watching the films (and, for that matter, listening to the soundtracks).
6. Uncle Eccoli - February 13, 2008 9:00 PM
I'm only snobby about Tolkien. It IS a shame that millions(?) of people have gone and read the books only after having seen the films because they will only ever see the books through the LenS of the films.
7. Kat - February 15, 2008 11:39 AM
Oh God, they are going to fuck up The Watchmen, I can feel it. I mean, sure, it's already a foregone conclusion, but I bet there's going to be some age old romance added in just to spice things up. WHY? Didn't you already ruin V for Vendetta? Isn't that enough? I bet Fox and Warner Brothers are having a pissing contest over who can fuck up Alan Moore's stories the most. Personally, my bet is on Fox.