ROTTEN TOMATOES: Owner of Tolkien Titles Chimes in on Jackson Controversy

Owner of Tolkien Titles Chimes in on Jackson Controversy

by Scott Weinberg | November 27, 2006

Movie producer Saul Zaentz (aka The Guy Who Owns the Movie Rights to "Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit") has made his opinions known regarding the future of the "Hobbit" movie -- and the guy seems strangely confident that director Peter Jackson WILL be returning for that particular gig.

From ShowbizData: "A German website, Elbenwald.de, posted an interview with Zaentz, who acquired the rights to the works of the late Rings writer, J.R.R. Tolkien, in 1976 (the Saul Zaentz Company owns Tolkien Enterprises), in which Zaentz says, "It will definitely be shot by Peter Jackson. ... Next year The Hobbit rights will fall back to my company. I suppose that Peter will wait because he knows that he will make the best deal with us. And he is fed up with the studios: to get his profit share on the Rings trilogy he had to sue New Line. With us, in contrast, he knows that he will be paid fairly and artistically supported without reservation."
--

Hmm, this is all getting fairly juicy!

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(1-13 of 13 posts) | Reply

mojodaddy writes:
on Nov 27 2006 05:35 AM

God I hope so

(Reply to this)

Fangmeier69 writes:
on Nov 27 2006 07:52 AM

Saul Zaentz is a good man. He'll see that Jackson comes back to the project. He's fought studios before and won, like with The English Patient - 9 Oscars that 20th Century Fox didn't get.

(Reply to this)

mjolson20 writes:
on Nov 27 2006 08:06 AM

i hope this is true

(Reply to this)

Zen Bullet writes:
on Nov 27 2006 08:45 AM

This sounds like business-hype though.

First, the studios have to NOT make the film.

And then Peter Jackson has to say "yes" . . . even though Zaentz has seemingly done it for him.

And I'm not sure about this . . . but wasn't it Tolkein Enterprises(or was it the family specifically) who wouldn't allow Jackson to build a LOTR museum?

I guess I'm playing devil's advocate here, especially when you consider how cynical the film business is: studios and execs will do virtually anything to make sure the cash flow is in their favor: from outright lying . . . to the Jackson/New Line controversy(and we know whose fault that really is) . . . to double-dipping DVDs . . . to adding senseless marketing tags such as "from the studio that brought you . . . "

And ultimately studio cynicism (toward art and the audience) is the main culprit behind so many limp movies in recent years.

It would be great if Jackson directed The Hobbit. But I remember a story a while back that discussed how there was some rough promotional art for The Hobbit that labeled the film's intended release date as 2008. I thought the story was fake(maybe it is), but it makes more sense now . . . meaning the studio wants to rush into production before the rights revert.

(Reply to this)

sauronthegr8 writes:
on Nov 27 2006 11:13 AM

Actually, I kind of wanna see what Sam Raimi would do with it.

But getting Jackson back is cool.

(Reply to this)

Bob* writes:
on Nov 27 2006 11:43 AM

In reply to this comment (#849725)
Hmm..yeah I wouldn't be the first time..I hope that this movie doesn't end up like "Star wars episode I" which was a huge dissapointing.

(Reply to this)

dracus writes:
on Nov 27 2006 02:38 PM

He's the only one who can make this happen and it puts an end to the Raimi foolishness. Having Raimi direct The Hobbit would be as ridiculous as having Jackson direct Spiderman; you'd have two great visionary directors working on the wrong movies.

(Reply to this)

Ciaranmv writes:
on Nov 27 2006 04:03 PM

[b]Hobbit with NZ crew, or not at all![/b]
Please, let this be true! Let there be dragons... and hobbits and rings and strange grey schizophrenic mountain-dwelling, fish-eating once hobbits!

(Reply to this)

Brandcrusader writes:
on Nov 28 2006 12:10 AM

[b]Zaentz and Jackson may make the Hobbit anyway!

Further to Zen Bullet's comments...

If New Line goes ahead with The Hobbit, then judging by the ringer fans boycott of New Line with the petitions at http://www.thehobbitfilm.com/ and the heavy handed protest campaigns by fans such as myself as layed out at http://brandcrusader.blogspot.com/, most likely it will be a huge flop anyway.

This is because New Line will rush the film through, over-compensate its greedy flawed approach by just throwing loads of cash at it and try to make it work through the old special effects wow factor solution (someone really, really, needs to tell Hollywood though thats there is more to a films success than just SFX, cookie cutter formularised scripts, some market research, lots of cash, and interference from Hollywood suits with gargantuan egos).

Remember that New Line needs a couple of initial big box office weekend takings to get the success momentum (or critical mass as I like to call it) going for the film to work, and without the core support of ringers fans it is unlikely to get this. This is also at a time when it has also been reported that New Line has been in a bit of an earnings drought in entertainment business media reports (http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21112006/325/jackson-public-hobbit-dispute.html)and according to this report (see link) the six major studios overall are not doing as well as they could be either... (http://www.smh.com.au/news/film/is-the-film-industry-in-meltdown/2006/11/24/1164341399345.html).

Also remember that hard core fans such as the average ringer usually sees a LOTR film at least three times (if not up to ten or more times) and is a word of mouth marketing machine for the film studios. When you mix the stink of the attitude of the ringer fans, mixed with the likely huge handicap that a "non Jackson Hobbit Film" will have with key film Critics who can make or break a film, this film could really bomb badly. It could also turn out to be an astronomical loss of up to several hundreds of millions of dollars (through the overcompensated production and marketing spend that didnt work) for Time Warner investors (the owners of New Line).

Who know's, New Line may have to rename themselves "The Thin Red Line" after this likely debacle if they persist without Jackson.

The real ingredients, such as the essence of Tolkien and decades of dedicated exposure and mulling over the Middle Earth universe is something that Jackson and his team knows better than any other film makers possibly could (especially with nearly $3 Billion worth of proof in the kitty). This is something that will be completely lacking in the New Line (non Jackson) camp. Sir Ian McKellen (Gandalph) knows this, hence his sadness in the dismissal of Jackson, as does Elijah Wood - Frodo the Hobbit from the LOTR Trilogy hence his concern (although the character Frodo would not appear in The Hobbit or prequel film of course).

Having been the predicted flop (i.e. a rushed out New Line Hobbit film without Jackson), perhaps Saul Zaentz and Peter Jackson will get together with Sir Ian and Weta soon after, and make the proper film nearly every fans wants, once the rights convert back to Saul. Also having seen the disastrous Hobbit offering from New Line, they would learn how "NOT" to make a Hobbit film!

The only issue here with my theory though is whether the rights have an auto-renew clause as discussed at Copyfight blog.(http://copyfight.corante.com/archives/2006/11/27/what_does_ip_have_to_do_with_who_directs_the_hobbit.php). If there is an auto renew clause and it is triggered through the timing of events (such as commencing principal photography or whatever the trigger is), then that could complicate or dramatically delay my theory.

One lives in hope though that we will still see a Jackson Hobbit film yet and one that Sir Ian Mckellen (Gandalph) and Sir Ian Holm (Bilbo Baggins) can still do!

Regards

Brand Crusader
http://brandcrusader.blogspot.com/

(Reply to this)

Zen Bullet writes:
on Nov 28 2006 08:01 AM

In reply to this comment (#849731)
Thanks Brandcrusader

You make several really informed points, all very well stated. I was initially on the fence regarding the financial effect of the Ringers crowd, but not so much now.

I thought the general public would not be affected . . . and that some Tolkien fans(not able to help themselves, unfortunately) would purchase tickets anyway.

A protest would be sort of an anti-SOAP/Borat campaign . . . trying to submit bad-publicity.

Looking at it from a detached perspective, it would be an interesting experiment; would the campaign succeed like Borat or fail like SOAP?

I'm kind of intrigued by the notion of two hobbit films. Certainly, I'd hate a rushed New Line Hobbit movie(in the tradition of the woeful X-Men 3), but to compare it to an "official" Jackson rendition would be interesting to see.

I'm convinced that New Line is so enticed by the financial prospects of the LOTR universe that they'll make the film at any cost and stoop to any detriment. And the trick is: can we make the general ticket buyer care about that?

I certainly agree that putting a non-Jackson "Hobbit" in front of critics is like marching it in front of the firing squad.

(Reply to this)

sr78 writes:
on Nov 28 2006 11:37 AM

I highly doubt any of the original cast will want to work on a New Line quickie of The Hobbit, especially when they know that if they hold out for a couple of months there will be a Peter Jackson-directed version in the works. The same goes for a potential director; that guy won't burn his hands on a project hated by the entire world.

Although Uwe Boll might still go for it ;)

(Reply to this)

Crenshaw writes:
on Nov 28 2006 01:57 PM

[b]Well....[/b]
Best news I've heard in days. Yay PJ!!!!

Sorry, but I do have to comment on one not-so-good statement among many good ones. This post....

"If New Line goes ahead with The Hobbit, then judging by the ringer fans boycott of New Line with the petitions at [link] and the heavy handed protest campaigns by fans such as myself as layed out at [link], most likely it will be a huge flop anyway."

...is a bit too presumptuous. The "ringers" could indeed all stay away, and the film could be directed by Michael Bay and scored by Andrew Lloyd Weber and it'll STILL rule the box office. Ringers are a blip. All they need to do is get Ian M to return as Gandalf and show him in the trailer and you'll have a hit. very sad but very true.

And no way will ringers not go see it. ;-)

I pray that PJ will direct and "the whole production gang" is reunited. It;f be nice if the Weinsteins [sic] have a hand it is as well since they can do good. But if that is not to be, so be it.

(Reply to this)

luthiensangel writes:
on Jan 13 2007 11:40 AM

I love Ian McKellan!!
I would consider myself an avid Tolkien fan.....
But,there is NO way I would go see the Hobbit without Jackson at the helm.

I'm glad I found this thread though,it gives me hope for the state of this film yet.:)

(Reply to this)

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